Despite the closure of the window to submit the names of the athletes to participate at the South American Games in Paraguay next month, an 11th hour plea will be made this weekend at a meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil in an effort to enable them to compete.
So said President of the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson. Hutson confirmed to this publication yesterday that the AAG did not submit names of prospective athletes in the discipline he heads to the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) in order to compete at the October 1-15 Games but stated, “In less than 24 hours, the GOA will have a list.”
Said Hutson, “The long list was prepared but was not presented in time, but we will be making a plea at the South American meeting for our athletes to attend.”
Quizzed on why the list was not submitted to the GOA in a timely manner, Hutson responded, “We were not sure about the readiness of the athletes to compete and most of the USA-based athletes were not that keen on competing, so this team or list will be made up of mostly local athletes.”
Hutson named Commonwealth Games representatives, Akeem Stewart, Noelex Holder, and Emanuel Archibald along with Andrea Foster, Shemar Horatio, Keliza Smith, Damon Williams and Natrena Hooper as some of the athletes who could potentially be representatives for track and field at the Games.
Said Hutson, “We still want to push through with having a team with locally based athletes because most of the US athletes said it was too late.”
Vice President of the GOA, Godfrey Monroe, who confirmed that the GOA was not in receipt of a list by the AAG, stated that such tardy practices by associations should not be tolerated.
“Guidelines should be respected and athletes should know whether or not they are travelling to compete more than a couple weeks in advance.You can’t suddenly find it convenient to send athletes now when communication was made since April.”
When asked if the athletes may be given the green light to participate following Hutson’s plea, Monroe stated, “Stranger things have occurred and it is primarily one of the reasons for which we find ourselves in this quagmire in sports in Guyana.”
Besides Track and Field, the disciplines of swimming and basketball (3×3) also did not respond to a request for submission of a long-list to the GOA.
The sports disciplines that responded were boxing, badminton, squash and table tennis.
