Steve Ninvalle, the country’s Director of Sport, said he’s ready to ‘hit the ground running’ in his new capacity as the head of the National Sports Commission (NSC).

On his first day since being appointed, Ninvalle, speaking to Chronicle Sport, first lauded the six-member Commission and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr, for entrusting him with a position he said is important for the country’s development of sports.

“From a national perspective, there’s a lot of work to be done and I intend to seek the guidance of the honourable Minister and to work closely with the Commission, in order to get sports where the Government of Guyana wants sports to be,” Ninvalle said.

He further noted “I don’t expect that it will be an easy task, but then again, if we all have hands-on-deck, then the sky’s the limit for sports in Guyana and that is what I expect.”

The NSC, led by Chairman Kashif Muhammad, met on Sunday, for the first time, where they unanimously, after consultation with Minister Ramson, named Ninvalle as Christopher Jones’ successor.

According to Muhammad, Ninvalle’s distinguished background as a sports administrator helped to influence the Commission’s decision.

Ninvalle is a National Sports Award-winning administrator, known for transforming amateur boxing in Guyana and the Caribbean.

He’s the president of the Guyana Boxing Association, also a former sports journalist and Member of Parliament. He also served as a Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.

Ninvalle is now Guyana’s third Director of Sport following Neil Kumar and Christopher Jones, since the 1993 Sports Commission Act was assented to by former president, Samuel Hinds, after it was passed in the sitting of the Sixth Parliament on December 3rd of that year.