By Treiston Joseph
Guyana’s 31-member contingent for the inaugural South American Youth Championships set to take place in Lima, Peru, from September 20, will be departing on September 17.
The Guyanese will feature in seven sporting disciplines: athletics, badminton, boxing, cycling, swimming, table tennis and weightlifting.
At a press conference on Monday at the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) headquarters, the names were revealed, along with their coaches. Also, GOA president K. A. Juman Yassin noted that the event, which was funded by the GOA in excess of Gy$ 5 million, can be the start of the “Road to Rio” for the athletes on the trip.
“Funding for the team is totally from the GOA; we have not asked any of the association for help with the funding. The team has about 30 persons and it is hopefully the start of the careers for these young athletes; for some it is the start of the road to Rio and for most it should be start for the road to Tokyo in 2020,” Yassin told media representatives.
Coach for the athletics team Julian Edmonds commended the GOA for giving the athletes an opportunity to acclimatise.
“We have an experienced team, they all are healthy and preparing for the National Youth Championship so they are fit and I must congratulate the GOA on getting us there early so that we can acclimatise because it is going to be a bit cold over there. And we should be able to put in about five to six training sessions before the games begin,” Edmonds stated.
On the other hand, Yassin pointed out that more needs to be done for boxing, which has brought Guyana’s only medal at the Olympics, national coach Wincel Thomas believes that his team is prepared for the challenge.
“We have two experience boxers on the team and we are now winding down training at the [Andrew] “Sixhead” Lewis gym. We are well prepared and our team should do well,” Thomas related.
Teams
Athletics
Coach: Julian Edmonds, Athletes: Jason Yaw, Tirana Mitchell, Andrea Foster and Dequan Vancooten.
Badminton
Coach: Gokarn Ramdhani , Athletes: Ambika Ramraj and Narayan Ramdhani.
Boxing
Coach: Wincel Thomas, Athletes: Tefon Greene, Travis Fraser, Joel Williamson and Michael April.
Cycling
Coach: William Howard, Athletes: Akeem Arthur, Alonzo Ambrose, Shaquel Agard, Stepano Husbands and Crystal Lambert.
Swimming
Coach: Sean Baksh, Athletes: Hannibal Gaskin, Onika George and Omar Adams.
Table Tennis
Coach: Linden Johnson, Athletes: Shemar Britton and Chelsea Edghill.
Weightlifting
Coach: Sean Cozier, Athletes: Sheriah Melville, Darren Williams and Denoila Bristol.
