President Granger advocates for proper structure in sports; pledges administration’s commitment towards athletes development

By Treiston Joseph

Some of Guyana’s top athletes and influential sports personalities were rewarded by the Guyana Olympic Association on Friday evening at the Georgetown Club.

President of the Republic of Guyana, Brigadier retired, David Granger made his presence felt with a featured address that provided some historic insight on sports in Guyana as well as advocating for change in the sporting structure in order to produce better athletes.

“Our men and women have potential to be world class performers, so why do we do poorly, what we need to do is take the model that we have and take a fresh look at sports. The populist model allows for the participation of sport among all Guyanese, this allows latent potential for sport development. I think we need to look at the way we have been producing our athletes over the years and see if we need further change to produce better athletes,” Granger stated.

Granger also committed the Government’s assistance to aid in the development of sport during his well delivered and informative address.

President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) KA Juman Yassin shared that a sport policy is critical to the development of Guyana’s sports landscape, while also noting that the GOA will be looking to improve on their doping watch.

Yassin also pointed out that the GOA hopes to partner with the Government to produce better rounded student-athletes with various programmes.

Minister within the Ministry of Education with the responsibility for sport, Nicolette Henry, touched on using sport as a development tool as well as a form of social cohesion which is deemed as important to the current Ministry.

Meanwhile receiving awards were Sean Devers; Sports Journalist of the Year, Godfrey Wray; Contribution to Sport, Taylor Fernandes and Larissa Wiltshire; Outstanding Performances, Charles Corbin; GOA Council Member of the Year and Buxton Youth Developers; IOC Innovation trophy.