To a citizenry continually bewildered by repeated instances of political gridlock,

international sport provides the rare opportunity for Guyanese to publicly display oneness and unity of purpose.
Scenes of the thousands of Golden Arrowhead-waving cricket aficionados who crammed the Guyana National Stadium last month to vocally cheer the Amazon Warriors suffice as substantiation for the notion that politically fractious societies can coalesce for the cause of sport.
Powerlifting may not enjoy the fanatical following and frenetic media coverage as cricket, and to some extent, football do in this country.  However, Mr Gumendra Shewdas’s becoming the first Guyanese to bring home gold from  the International Powerlifting Federation’s World Juniors and Sub-Juniors Men’s Championships is no less noteworthy.
The 17-year-old’s feat, which was accomplished last month in the US state of Texas, is all the more remarkable as he had outperformed contestants from global economic powerhouses, United States of America, Russia, and Japan. While, as the East African marathon king nations demonstrate, there are other ingredients to sporting success besides wealth, the nexus between economic prosperity and national sporting glory ought not to be trivialised.
Therefore, there is no doubt that Shewdas might have faced greater obstacles than his rivals from the less resource-constrained nations.
It is apposite to note that there is a link between an individual’s sporting success and his nation’s profile internationally, which in turn can feed into the country’s culture and tourism product. Manny Pacquiao’s triumphs in Madison Square Garden and Usain Bolt’s record-shattering runs in Beijing, both seen by millions worldwide, not only make them global icons, but their countries as well. Jamaica now flaunts sun, sand, sea and sprinters as its tourism products, while the Philippines attracts eager young boxers the world over to its famous training companies.
When compared to team sports which require high capital investments in arenas, accommodations and arenas, an investment in powerlifting does not require as heavy an outlay. In addition, the visibility a cadre of champion powerlifters can bring to our nation may far outsize what we can pay marketing consultants for with the same amount of money which we invest in them.
The recognition accorded the history-making, pint-sized Guyanese powerlifter  by the Culture, Youth and Sport Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, is most deserved. However, the Guyanese society’s continued support and appreciation of Shewdas and the wider powerlifting community must be broader and less reserved.
What is it about sport, though, that can glue a community together? According to the United Nations-affiliated Sport and Development platform, sport is regarded as a “neutral pursuit.” It is, the platform elaborates, regarded as common cultural property, and unspoiled by conflicts. Foreign media outlets and other observers swooned at the temporary unity brought by the Iraqi football team’s fairytale victory over Saudi Arabia in soccer’s Asia Cup. The sporting triumph, which was accomplished by a team comprising  Sunni, Shia and Kurdish players, sparked scenes of common jubilation in a country wracked by sectarian violence since a U.S.-led invasion deposed Saddam Hussein in 2001.
Besides war, international sport provides an arena for competition between nations. This is another source of social cohesion as victory in sporting championships evokes a strong spirit of nationalism among citizens.
Just as a country’s peoples band together when their collective economic and social well-being is under threat by an external agent, so too do citizens when they perceive their national reputation in a particular discipline to be threatened by a rival entity.  Last year, for instance, Senegalese fans rioted after The Ivory Coast outplayed their team in an African Nations Cup match.
The benefits of an investment in our sporting heritage ought not to be weighed lightly,
and must not be considered in strictly monetary terms, as the intangible spinoffs thereof,
while not exactly quantifiable, carry more significance than a calculator could comprehend.