… Optimistic of second half

“THE FIRST six months as it relates to sports in Guyana, was an interesting one, in the sense that the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS) programmes were highly successful.”

Those were the words of Director of Sport within the NSC, Neil Kumar, during an exclusive interview with Chronicle Sport yesterday morning at his Middle Street, North Cummingsburg office, where he spoke on all the positives that occurred through sports in Guyana for the first six months of 2014.
“The Guyana Table Tennis Association’s programme was a highly successful one, with over 150 students passing through this programme, coming from all three counties, while a look at the three-stage cycle race that was held, you will see another success story.
“Prior to the hosting of this event, they were close to 15 races being held, so you can safely say that the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF), with whom the NSC works very closely, was on stream with their plans and execution as well,” said Kumar.
He added, “We also had a wonderful first six months in volleyball, with both the Berbice and Demerara sub-associations teaming up with the NSC and we had favourable development in volleyball for the first half of the year.”
Kumar said he chose to speak on volleyball and cycling with an enthusiastic heart, as these two disciplines are part of the Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) which will be held again this year, with basketball also playing an important role in the fostering of camaraderie at the IGG.
“I must say that I appreciate deeply, the unison between the NSC and Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG), who organises basketball festivals for schools, as the YBG is the only nursery for basketball in Guyana, ensuring the success of the sport while serving as a feeder for the clubs and country.
We have been working very closely to develop basketball in the schools and from this we use the YBG school programme for the selection of the Guyana male and female teams to compete at the IGG, so I must give kudos to Chris Bowman of the YBG,” stated Kumar.
He reminded that Guyana entered this year’s IGG basketball tournament as the defending champions in the female category, adding that a lot of attention will be paid to the development of female basketball and, in general, female sports in Guyana.
According to Kumar, a very successful meeting was held among Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, as it relates to this year’s edition of the IGG, which will see Guyana hosting the first leg at the end of this month, with athletics, swimming and basketball.

ATHLETICS
“This year, our athletes who competed at the Junior Carifta Games in Martinique really excelled. Both Casey George and Kadecia Baird churned out exemplary performances and we are proud of them; it was good to see them capture those gold medals.
“I see also a genuine interest by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) to have meets and to prepare for the IGG and I am very confident that with these systems being put in place early, the athletes will be doing better this time around.”

SWIMMING
Kumar said the NSC enjoyed an exceptionally good swimming programme for the first half of 2014, especially during the Easter school holidays where over 100 students between the ages of 6 and 10 were taken through their paces and will be taught more at the Summer Programme which starts next Monday at the National Aquatic Centre (NAC).
“At least 100 children have advanced to swim at the NAC, so we will be seeing maximum benefits of this programme and we have been sitting with the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) to ensure they have a planned programme for the development of our swimmers,” said Kumar.

BOXING
He also extended congratulations to the Steve Ninvalle-steward Guyana Boxing Association, with whom the NSC shares an excellent relationship.
“They held three programmes for the year, while they are working closely with corporate citizens, particularly Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) and I have all confidence that they are working also on the Road to Brazil 2016 Olympics.”

CRICKET
With the passing of the Cricket Administration Bill (CAB), coupled with the recent developments which saw the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) win their latest court matter, Kumar is very optimistic about the sport.
“The CAB was passed in Parliament in agreement with the Government and A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and I have strong reasons to believe that President Donald Ramotar will assent to the CAB and the cricket issues will be resolved. I welcome the Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL) to Guyana and I am following very closely the differences between the Guyana Cricket Board and the cricket fraternity which seem to be heading to a resolution to solve those problems and I am hoping that cricket can take off in a much better way.”
He said the Government of Guyana is working to see this happen, along with our local legend Clive Lloyd, adding that the NSC is working closely with all sections of the sport to see a positive spin-off, following all the debacles they experienced.

FOOTBALL
“I am a little worried with the football situation and unhappy with what is happening in the sport, but I am hoping that good wisdom will prevail and Guyana will once again return to doing well.
However, I see Alpha have been dominating in their bid to win the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) championships, with their manager Odinga Lumumba writing me for some assistance as it relates to a venue to continue preparing his team and we will respond positively to his application,” stated Kumar.
Looking at the activities that are being staged at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and National Gymnasium, namely hockey and volleyball, we feel comfortable that these facilities are being used well and at the moment they are heavily booked, which is a good sign.
“In addition to that, we have the Racquet Centre where we see much more lawn tennis and squash being played, which is also a good sign for that facility and the two disciplines as well, while I must give kudos to the Guyana Squash Racquets Association, which has also enjoyed a successful first half of the year, backed by its long-serving sponsor Digicel.”
He said the NSC will be having a meeting shortly with the Grace McCalman-steward Guyana Tennis Association, as it relates to their hosting the IGG lawn tennis tournament, something that is not with the NSC but the GTA, but will see the NSC offering their unwavering support.
“One of the most significant things in the first half of the year was the hosting of the Sports Administration Seminar, which I think was really a resounding success to have Jamaica’s Grace Jackson and Trinidad and Tobago’s Ato Boldon here.
The quality of the seminar and the people who attended were very good. They were very content and the future of young sports administrators looks good. Both Dr Frank Anthony and I worked very close to see how we can help develop the human resources in sports in Guyana,” said Kumar.
He added, “The seminar, which had those two former Olympians as facilitators here in Guyana, really brought a lot of life into athletics and to the development of sports in particular, exposing our people to what the good knowledge of Sports Administration can be.
It will help us to have strong club structures, leading to strong club associations and with that, stronger national associations which will work to make sure that sports in particular, be developed stronger in Guyana.”
He cited as examples, the building of the NAC, Guyana National Stadium at Providence and the synthetic track, whose lanes are being marked at the moment, adding that it is heartening to see the completion of the track, which will further assist with the development of athletics in Guyana.
Kumar placed as the icing on the cake for his summary of sports in Guyana over the first six months of 2014, the success of the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) 15s team, who defeated defending champions USA-South to take the NACRA title.
“While the win over Trinidad and Tobago, two weeks prior to them defeating USA-South was a strong testament of their will to succeed, I believe that such a will was further underlined when they defeated USA-South, the defending champions, to take the title.
It further underlined the hard work put in by GRFU president Peter Greene and his team of executives and we at the Government of Guyana and NSC tip our hats off to them for their success story, making the nation proud with their win,” said Kumar.
In closing, he applauded all the Sports Associations for their hard work put in over the first six months, congratulating them on their success however small it may have been, while he remained optimistic that the second half of the year would reap more success for Guyana in sports.

(By Calvin Roberts)