– Equipment sponsor and high-performance facility high on agenda

By Calvin Chapman
THE long-anticipated election for the new executive body of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) was held last night at Olympic House, Lilliendaal, where former vice-president, Godfrey Munroe, ended K.A. Juman-Yassin’s 26-year reign at the helm of the body.During his first speech as president, Munroe thanked K.A. Juman-Yassin for his long-serving human service to sports in Guyana through his commitment and work at the GOA.

“The first order will be to communicate the entire agenda to the committee… We have simple, realistic and pragmatic goals. We will be looking to acquire an equipment sponsor, build a high-performance facility and collaborate more with ministries, embassies and other stakeholders”, President Munroe posited.

Meanwhile, K.A. Juman-Yassin, who thanked various distinguished persons for helping him during his elongated tenure as the GOA boss, was the first to congratulate the new GOA executive and wished them the best.

The council voted for Aliann Pompey’s eligibility to run as vice-President and she was deemed ineligible 24-11 via secret ballots. Hence, there were only three nominees for the three vice-President positions on the executive. Director of Sport Steve Ninvalle, along with Cristy Campbell and Phillip Fernandes, were automatically elected to the VP positions.

Attorney-at-law and President of Archery Guyana, Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon, was elected the new General Secretary, edging out Dr. Karen Pilgrim and Keavon Bess. In the tie-breaker between Dr. Pilgrim and Persaud-McKinnon, the latter overcame 18-15.

Garfield Wiltshire was re-elected unopposed as the Treasurer. His deputy will be Mike Singh, who got the Assistant Treasurer nod 21-14 over Deion Nurse.

Deion Nurse was also up for re-election to the position of Assistant General Secretary but Emilia Ramdhani had a landslide victory with 22 votes while Nurse had six (6) and the other candidate, Latoya Herbert, snagged seven (7).

Caption: Outgoing head K.A. Juman-Yassin (left) congratulates Godfrey Munroe on becoming new President of the GOA (Adrian Narine photo)