1st South American Youth Games – competition kicks off today Youth Games

Sep 21, 2013 Sports

Guyana open quest for medals in cycling, swimming & boxing

Weeks of earnest training for the Inaugural South American Youth Games here

The Golden Arrowhead on display among the participating countries at the 1SAYG in Peru.

in Lima, Peru will come to the fore from today for 23 Under-18 Guyanese athletes when competition gets underway with action in swimming, cycling and boxing.
Fourteen countries, members of the South American Sports Organisation (ODESUR) will be battling for supremacy in 19 disciplines but more than that; the Games are being held to also strengthen the bonds of friendship, fair competition, ethical and other values.
Leading off the action at 09:30 Peru time (10:30 Guyana time) for Guyana will be the swimmers; Hannibal Gaskin, Omar Adams and Onika George. Gaskin and Adams will compete in the 100m freestyle with George competing in the 50m freestyle and butterfly.
BMX rider Stepano Husbands will be in action from 10:00hrs local time here, 11:00hrs Guyana time; the semi finals and final of his event will also be contested today.
All four boxers Michael April (52kg), Travis Fraser (69kg), Tefon Greene (49kg) and Joel Williamson (56kg) will be donning their gloves in quest of medals for their

The Golden Arrowhead being hoisted yesterday.

homeland from 15:00hrs (16:00hrs Guyana Time).
All the athletes went through their final paces yesterday and have expressed confidence in doing well for their country.
The respective coaches Sean Baksh (swimming), Wincel Thomas (boxing) and William Howard (cycling) all attended Technical Meetings yesterday.
Athletics, Badminton, Canoeing Kayaking, Diving, Fencing, Gymnastics, Judo, Weightlifting, Wrestling, Rowing, Taekwando, Tennis, Table Tennis, Triathlon, Beach Volleyball and Sailing are the other sports that will be contested over the 10 days.
Meanwhile, the symbolic hoisting of the flags of the competing countries, IOC and ODESUR took place at the Villa Regional Callao Sports Coliseum where the boxing will take place today. This massive facility houses football fields, 50m and 25m swimming pools and a warm up pool, multiple multipurpose courts and a full size athletic track among other amenities.
Each country was represented by five athletes and a coach, Guyana was represented at the historic event by the entire boxing team and cyclist Alonzo Ambrose. The team make up was agreed to since other athletes would have been training at the same time. The event was well attended by hundreds of applauding school children and high ranking officials of the organizers and ODESUR.
The activity was done in Spanish so we were unable to bring any comments made by the officials. The interpreter that was assigned to the Guyana team finally joined the team yesterday morning much to the relief of Chief-de-Mission Dr. Karen Pilgrim.
The official opening was scheduled for last evening.