ARCHERY Guyana hosted its Annual General Meeting (AGM), virtually, last weekend with members given an opportunity to discuss the activities and plans for the way forward to promote the sport of Archery in Guyana.

Minutes from the previous meeting were adopted followed by Secretary-General of Archery Guyana,Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon, delivering the annual report.

She reported on the status of the website, membership, the various Sub-Committees and the proposed National School programme, which had started just before the COVID-19 pandemic, at the ISA Islamic Academy and Queen’s College.

International events were also reported on, such as the World Archery Ranking Tournament in Santiago, Chile, the Caribbean Beginners and Developmental Championships, and the Caledon Tournament in Ontario, Canada.

The Double 720 Qualification (Baltimore) was also mentioned.

With respect to local competitions, the inaugural Archery Guyana’s Seven Seas Indoor Championships 2019 was reported on as well as the Heritage Games 2019, where Archery Guyana was partnered with the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs.

There were a number of online courses, organised and facilitated as a result of the affiliation with World Archery, such as a Sports Science in Archery Course and a course on classification basics: assignment, assistive devices and equipment inspection, that were offered to members, a number of whom participated during this period.

Archery Guyana also organised a virtual Bow-Tuning Session that was conducted by Trinidad & Tobago Level 4 archery coach, Sherwin Francis.

During the reporting period, the Board of Archery Guyana also participated in a successful virtual Meeting with World Archery Americas (WAA) and other National Federations where a number of areas were discussed.

The Secretary-General went on to report on the Online Archery Cup of the Americas which set out to have the spirit of competing on a virtual arena whilst abiding with the COVID-19 safety measures across the Americas (North, South and Central America and the Caribbean) Archery Guyana was tasked with conducting Qualification rounds, which was a 600-round.

Scores were recorded electronically, pictures of equipment, scorecards and the target were sent to the Competitions and Judging Committee via Whatsaap for tabulations and scrutiny.

Seven archers took on the challenge of recording the highest score out of 600 for Guyana. Canadian-based Guyanese, Wayne DeAbreu and Devin Persaud, shot from an Archery facility in Canada, while Umasankar Madray, Nicholas Hing, Robert Singh, Samira Duncan and Talitha Kissoon shot from various locations in Guyana.

Regrettably, the body did not make it to the Elimination shoot but look forward to future competitions.

Online National Archery Judges’ Seminar

Plans earlier this year to host a National Judges’ Seminar, regrettably, had to be postponed for the various intervening unforeseen circumstances.

However, World Archery Americas hosted an online seminar to train national judges.

Consequently, an invitation to participate was extended to members and persons considered suitable, representing the first paid course offered for the last 3 years.

11 participants are a part of the 12 session seminar which started on October 12th and will conclude on November 6th with an exam.

Indoor and outdoor practice sessions were reported on as continuing with the kind permission of the NSC and the Ministry at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue, and at the Carifesta Sports Complex Ground, Carifesta Avenue.

Collaboration with local bodies, such as the Guyana Beverages Inc., the Muslim Youth Organisation and MMG, was reported on.

It was also announced that a Specially Convened Committee, mandated to develop the sport of Para-Archery in Guyana, was established.

Archery Guyana, from time to time, will be seeking to host Fundraising events.

In December last, they were asked, for the past 2 years, to assist with the Archery Fundraiser at St Joseph Mercy Hospital’s Christmas Fair.

The most recent Fund-raising exercise was the sale of Archery Guyana shirts.

It was also reported that since the initial request for affiliation and approval was made to the GOA in 2014, this was achieved only last year.

Since then, the Board has duly made an application for what would have been the Tokyo 2020 Tripartite Commission Invitation Places and learnt that archer, Devin Persaud, was ranked fifth in priority by the executives of the Guyana Olympic Association and his name will be submitted in the priority list to the IOC for consideration for the Tripartite application.

They are awaiting favourable consideration in this regard.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Archery Guyana was also planning to host a 20-hour Olympic Recurve Clinic with 2 persons from Canada including Wayne DeAbreu, and persons from Regions 4, 5, 6 and 10.

A proposal was put forth to the GOA and it was suggested that this be a good project for an Olympic Solidarity Course.

The said proposal has been duly submitted and is awaiting favourable consideration to facilitate plans for the way forward.

The National Sports Commission was also mentioned as being very supportive of Archery Guyana in so many ways with access to the various sporting facilities.

 Upcoming Events

Guyana will be represented at the prestigious World Archery Americas General Assembly in November by three (3) members: Mr. Mohamed Khan, Mrs. Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon and Mr. Robert Singh.