It appears as if Guyana will not have representatives in the discipline of Track and Field at this year’s South American Games which starts in two weeks time in Paraguay.
This is despite a favourable response to an 11th hour plea by President of the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson during the South American Congress which was held recently in Brazil.
The reason for Guyana’s athletes potentially being a no show in Paraguay? The inability of the AAG to submit its long list in a timely manner.
Hutson confirmed to this publication last Monday that the AAG did not submit a long list in April for the discipline he heads to the GOA in order for his athletes to compete at the October 1-15 Games.
However, he stated that a plea was made days ago in Brazil at the South American Congress in an effort to enable the athletes to participate despite the closure of the window.
According to Hutson, during the Congress which was attended by South American President, Helio Gesta De Melo, his plea was ‘favourable’ and the list which included the names of 13 athletes was dispatched to the GOA to start the process for them to compete at the quadrennial event. When contacted yesterday, President of the GOA, K Juman-Yassin stated that the association was in receipt of the list which and if it was up to him, he would still send the athletes but “it would appear that the majority of the executive are not in favour of that because they want to teach the AAG a lesson.”
Juman-Yassin admitted that “the AAG has been delinquent in the past and there are valid points why they should not be approved but the athletes are the ones who will suffer not the AAG.”
Juman-Yassin said the executive will vote on whether the GOA will approve the AAG’ list and pull out the stops to send the athletes to Paraguay.
He pointed out that he is all for the athletes competing but “I am only one vote” and reiterated that a no-show would be “teaching the AAG a lesson but more so punishing the athletes” something he is not in agreement with.
Vice President of the GOA, Godfrey Monroe, had stated in a recent interview that tardy practices by associations sends the wrong message and should not be tolerated.
“Guidelines should be respected and athletes should know whether or not they are traveling 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.”
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 disciplines that responded were boxing, badminton, squash and table tennis. Sixteen athletes are confirmed to represent Guyana from those four disciplines.
