GUYANA and Suriname shared the honours for the first leg of the 2013 Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) which opened and concluded on Friday.
Four disciplines were contested at different venues during the course of the day and Guyana came outon top in the table tennis and cycling competitions while Surinamewon at Chess

and football.
French Guiana (Cayenne), the other country that makes up the Guianas did not participate in this year’s Games.
Guyana’s Director of Sport Neil Kumar in brief remarks congratulated both countries athletes for their performances in the four disciplines and said the multi-discipline Games was a tremendous success despite the many challenges the National Sports Commission (NSC) faced leading up to the Games.
Kumar congratulated the local management team that was headed by Dr Karen Pilgrim for a job well done.
He complemented the athletes from both countries and stated that the IGG is here to stay. “This the 20th year since the resuscitation of the Games and the IGG is here to stay Kumar remarked.” Adding “I’m confident the Games will get better.”
Kumar said he was very impressed with the broad mindedness of the table tennis association who used the initiative to include a `B’ category in that discipline so as to showcase more talent.
The winners of the `B’ category were not included in the overall points.
The Director of sports said he cannot deny the fact that sports is a vehicle that brings people together and create discipline among athletes.
He used the opportunity to thank the Guyana Football Federation, the Ministry of Health and the Organising Committee for a job well done.
Other speakers on Friday evening were Suriname’s Minister of Education, Sports and Youth Ismanto Adna and Suriname’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education Mike Watson.
Watson who is a regular visitor to Guyana in his remarks said one particular thing about the Games is the fact that his athletes competed very hard, they put their all into whichever discipline they participated in. “We had our quarrels and everything else, but we solved our problems.’ Adding, “but the spirit of the Games is what is important.”
Watson congratulated the athletes of the two countries and stated that representatives from the two countries are currently in discussion to invite other Caricom countries to be a part of the Games in the future.
He said there is a possibility that at least one other Caricom country will send athletes to the second leg of the 2013 Games which Suriname will host in October.