Dear Editor,

DURING the just-concluded Pan Am Games 2019 in Peru, I stumbled upon production coverages of quite a few events coming out of Lima, and I thought for a second that perhaps Guyana was given some special treatment by the organisers. Little did I know that Team Guyana actually provided their own private production coverage crew, which I thought was remarkable.

Over the years, I have said that this avenue, ‘Sports Tourism”, is an ideal one to consider, and I am happy to know that Guyana is finally seeing things much clearer. From a Tourism perspective, it’s a brilliant way forward, via sports, to have the Golden Arrowhead highlighted, and a useful marketing tool to educate the world over that Guyana is alive and kicking.

I am clueless as to who the person/s are with regards to this decision, but I applaud and give credit to those responsible, and hope they continue with this venture at the bigger international events. The Doha World Championships is just around the corner, and the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 is fast approaching, and perhaps Sports Guyana can collaborate with Tourism Guyana and the government of the day and make every effort to have the production crew grace their presence and continue with this venture.

Production coverages of this magnitude don’t come cheap, and we all need to pool our resources, time, effort, energies etc. and keep moving forwards towards progress.

On the flip side of the coin, I understand that Team Guyana might not have been so fortunate again to make it to the podium of any event, but we must embrace their performance at this high-level regional meet, and hope they use it as a booster towards the bigger meets, which are near, and those are even harder battles that await them. I was elated that Guyana made the finals of the women’s 400m, and it was a breath of fresh air viewing the little icon of the Golden Arrowhead colours among the other flags next to the participating athlete’s name.
Regards,
Trevor Pemberton