– Bright and Williams cosidered for SA Youth Championships

By Tamica Garnett
PRESIDENT of the Guyana Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hudson, says that the Association is still looking over the idea of whether or not to send athletes to the South American Under-23 Championships set to begin in Lima, Peru,this coming Friday, while Chantoba Bright and Daniel Williams are being considered for the South American Youth Championships in November.According to Hudson, the Association has been considering overseas-based Guyanese Arinze Chance, who is currently in Trinidad, studying at the University of Trinidad and Tobago for a diploma in Petroleum Engineering. Earlier,Hudson had noted that there was also consideration for another athlete, but that athlete was not named.
“For The South American Under-23,the person that we were really thinking about was Arinze Chance; we were to look back at his times and compare it to what is going on in South America.However,there is another under-23 athlete(that) we were thinking about.” Hudson had said at the beginning of the month.
A sprinter, Chance is known for his performances in the 200m and 400m, and earlier this year, in another section of the media, had voiced his hopes of being selected for the Under-23 Championships. Chance had noted that he wasn’t sure of the criteria for selection for the event, since none had been identified.
Speaking with Chronicle Sport, Hudson clarified that with the selection of the Under-23 Championships,the Association is looking at the athletes’ performance for the the year thus far, assessing the timings produced, and comparing it with what is the usual standard at the South American event.
“What we will look at is what they did at the last National Seniors or what they would have done in the year so far,and compare it with what is happening in South America, see how far off they are and see if it’s a worthy competition to send them to,where they will get medals, gain experience.Or do we just say, look, let us try to work with them and see if we can prepare them for next year’s World Championships.” Hudson added.
“The thing about it is we have to look at results and see if it’s worthy of sending anybody; that’s the key area. We don’t want to expend too much funding on it when funding is limited;we prefer to spend it on an area that may be more productive, that’s why we’re looking at results of the last three South American Under-23(championships) and come up with the athletes that are going, if they’re at that caliber to make sense to send them as against sending another athlete to the South American Youth(championships).” He further explained.
The South American Youth Championships is an event that caters to Under- 18 athletes. Bright was named for the event since earlier this year,when plans for her to attend the IAAF World U-20 Championships fell through. Bright specializes in the triple and long jumps, while Williams is a sprinter who favours the 200m and 400m distances.