SOME of the athletes who have so far qualified for the Tokyo Olympics and Tokyo Paralympics Games, yesterday met with Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr along with Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle and Chairman of the National Sports Commission, Kashif Muhammad.
Aliyah Abrams, Chelsea Edghill, Keevin Allicock and Walter Grant-Stuart, the lone Paralympian, were the athletes present. Swimmer Andrew Fowler is currently in Florida as part of his preparation for the games. Minister Ramson, in brief remarks, said the occasion was “really to give support to these athletes who are going to the Olympics to represent all of us! They’re not representing the Government of Guyana, they’re not representing their Associations alone, they’re not representing their families alone, they’re representing all Guyanese.”
“So I didn’t want them to leave without knowing that, first off all, Guyana stands by them and the Government stands by them as well. This is just the beginning,” Ramson said.
While the athletes’ attendance for the games will be handled by the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), the minister handed over US$1 000 to each representative, which he said is for casual spending while in Tokyo.

Also, the athletes were told that the ministry will help significantly with their training and preparation for the games.
Allicock will depart shortly for Russia for his preparation, while Edghill will leave this weekend for California and Portugal.
Paralympic cyclist Walter Grant-Stuart will also head-out for high-altitude training.
Abrams, who competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, was the first athlete from Guyana, male or female, to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
On June 8, 2019, Abrams clocked 51.13 seconds to clock a personal best and to surpass the qualifying standard time of 51.35 seconds needed to book her ticket to Tokyo, Japan.
When cyclist Walter Grant-Stuart hops on his saddle at the August 24 – September 5 event in Japan, he will be Guyana’s first ever representative at the Paralympics Games.

Meanwhile, Edghill will be the first table tennis player, male or female, to feature in the sport at an Olympic Games.
For Allicock, he marks a return for Guyana at the Olympic stage for boxing for the first time in 25 years.
John Douglas, Guyana’s flag-bearer for the 1996 Olympic Games, was the last boxer to represent the Golden Arrowhead at the IOC’s flagship event. He lost in the first round of his light-heavyweight clash with Germany’s Thomas Ulrich, who went on to claim bronze.
Guyana’s lone Olympic medal (bronze) came from the sport of boxing when Michael Parris reached the semi-finals at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
Fowler, 23, on the other hand, has been one of Guyana’s top swimmers over the years, with experience at the Commonwealth Games, the World Swimming Championships and other notable international and regional meets.