THE Region 2 Administration in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport on Sunday held its annual Day of Interaction at the Anna Regina Community Centre ground.

According to a release from the Administration, the event, which saw youths from all across the Essequibo Coast, the Pomeroon and Amerindian communities come together to bond and participate in a number of sports activities, was a huge success.
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony, who declared the event open, reportedly said he was really pleased that the Regional Chairman, Mr. Parmanand Persaud decided to move the activity from November to May, so as to make it part of the region’s Independence celebrations, and that from henceforth, it will be held in May.
He also told the large gathering of young people, who represented several sports clubs, that his ministry would like to do much more in the area of sports and that in order to make this a reality, has seen to it that money has been set aside in this year’s budgetary allocation to spruce up community grounds across the Region.
The allocation at reference, according to Minister Anthony, has been tagged at $1M per ground, so that the money can be spread out, and much more can be achieved countrywide.
Minister Anthony also announced that more work will be done this year to further rehabilitate the main pavilion at the Anna Regina Community Centre ground, some $5M was spent last year on refurbishing the facility.
And, besides calling on the Regional Administration to make nominations for Sports Personality of the Year from the Region, Minister Anthony also announced that that his Ministry will be bringing in two regional Olympic Gold Medalists to facilitate a week-long sports management workshop set to commence tomorrow.
The two Olympians at reference are Trinidad and Tobago’s Ato Boldon, who excelled at 100 and 200-metre races, and Jamaica’s Grace Jackson, who also excelled in track and field events. Two persons from Region 2 have been selected to attend this workshop, the objective of which is to enable participants to run their sports clubs more efficiently.
Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture, Mr. Alli Baksh, who was also at the event thanked the young people for coming out in support of the activity, and urged them to use the opportunity to make new friends and share ideas.
During the day’s activities, young people were involved in football, softball cricket, volleyball, table tennis and several other games. Trophies were also presented to winners.
Among Government officials present besides Ministers Baksh and Anthony were Director of Sports, Mr. Neil Kumar; and Region 2 Vice-Chairman, Mr. Vishnu Samaroo.
Written By Rajendra Prabhulall