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Another Sad Day
By Rawle Welch
A good friend of mine always told me that “here is it is always better than where is it” and even if I had forgotten that phrase for some period it was quickly revived after reading an article in the Stabroek News of June 8.
The piece which appeared in the sports section of the newspaper referred to the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG) forfeiture of two spots for athletes to attend the Junior Commonwealth Games in Pune, India in October.
The places were granted by the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) to two athletes, but the local governing body for the sport here, uncaringly decided not to accept the invitation, citing its inability to cover the airfare and other related expenditure for one official to attend the Games.
The AAG stated that because it was targeting other international competitions later in the year, it would be unfeasible to support the event at the expense of those.
Well, the release of that news item must have had a crushing effect on all those young promising athletes who sacrifice much for someday to be rewarded by their attendance at a major Meet.
Imagine, two thirds of the required cost being guaranteed only to hear some excuse of being unable to secure monies to finance at least one official three months before the scheduled Games.
What would be interesting is to know, which are the upcoming international competitions the AAG intend to send a contingent and how it is going to procure the necessary funding to do so.
In my opinion, the decision not to grasp the opportunity to send those two athletes to India was somewhat premature and insensible and if it is not too late, should be rescinded.
In a country where such opportunities are sparse, it would have been a show of love and care to have had those two athletes whoever they may have been participate at that event, which even though it is for juniors has a higher profile that some of the regional Meets.
With the success our athletes garnered at the recently staged Inter-Guianas’ Games, it would have been a generous reward for two of them to be presented with the prospect of participating at such a Meet against some of the best juniors in the Commonwealth.
The point is this: officials often talk about not getting the support from the business community; but if they sparingly expose their athletes how would they develop and become a successful product that can in effect provide maximum mileage to members of the business sector.
In a sport where the only local athlete who’ve been able to attract significant sponsorship over the years due in part to her management team, and here I’m speaking about Alika Morgan, no other Track and Field competitor has been able to achieve the status of let’s say some of those in table tennis, squash or cricket. So to pass up opportunities to develop some of those young promising athletes is unpardonable.
I must say that I’m terribly disappointed with the decision to renege on the invitation presented by the GOA and it may very well place the AAG in a negative spotlight in the future.
Hopefully, they secure enough funds down the line to prove that their preference to attend other international competitions was a well thought out one and served the best interest of the entity and ultimately the athletes.
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