Latest update February 23rd, 2025 1:40 PM
Latest News
- Miner dies after tree stump falls on head
- Drunken businessman shoots wife dead during argument
- Taxes collected by Bahamas on Guyana’s oil will soon outweigh our total earnings – Chris Ram
- Gov’t ignores concerns, reappoints Director, members of Environmental Assessment Board for 3rd consecutive year
- Pope Francis in critical condition after health deteriorates, Vatican says
Yassin’s marathon run as GOA President continues -re-elected unopposed for what can be final term
GOA President, K.A Juman Yassin (left) poses with the new Executive yesterday at the Headquarters at Lilliendaal.
By Edison Jefford
The marathon run of K.A Juman Yassin as President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) will continue for another four years after the former Chief Magistrate was re-elected unopposed to the position following yesterday’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Elections at its new Headquarters that is under construction at Lilliendaal.
Kaieteur Sport was reliably informed that the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) President, Aubrey Hutson nominated Yassin for the post, while General Secretary of Guyana’s Table Tennis Association (GTTA), Linden Johnson seconded the nomination.
There were six candidates for the three Vice-President positions, including Dr. Karen Pilgrim, Charles Corbin, Godfrey Munroe, Robin Singh, Steve Ninvalle and Noel Adonis. Following the voting process, Pilgrim, Corbin and Munroe emerged victorious.
GTTA President, Munroe is the only newcomer among the Vice-Presidents, beating out Adonis, who previously served in that position. Hector Edwards was re-elected General Secretary, while Garfield Wiltshire will also continue as Treasurer.
A motion was passed to divide the Assistant Secretary/Treasurer position into two positions that resulted in Deion Nurse being elected Assistant Secretary and Guyana Hockey Board’s Secretary Tricia Fiedtkou as Assistant Treasurer.
Both candidates defeated Badminton’s Gokarn Ramdhani, who contested both posts, but did not find favour among the electorate. The motion to divide the positions was one of three motions at the AGM that succeeded in being passed.
The other motions were imposing a three-term limit on the Presidency of the Olympic body and changing the financial year of the GOA from December to November to January to December in keeping with other major international sports organisations.
The three-term limit on the Presidency means that this could obviously be Yassin’s final hoorah as President of the GOA since he has been there for 20 odd years now that amounts to about five terms already served. The Guyana Squash Association tabled the motions.
In the presentation of the audited financial statements, one aspect jumped out at our source; that was when it was stated that for the period GOA was given $41 million for preparation and training of athletes for the Olympic and Pan American Games. However, only $3 million plus of the sum was expended.
“Of course no one asked any questions, including Mr. Hutson, who I felt that would have been his business since he is President of the AAG, which is one of the main associations. However, nothing was said about it,” our insider indicated.
Yassin has been in recent times under intense pressure from the media about his performance in the time he has been President. The issues raised included Guyana’s failure to procure Olympics and other noteworthy medals during his tenure; the general secrecy that surrounds his travels on GOA business; the non-publication of the list of athletes whom may have benefitted from grants from the International Olympic Committee for training etc; how much is the IOC grant to GOA and how much has been expended to-date on an Olympic Headquarters at Lilliendaal.
Those among a general structure to tangibly support athletes’ development as was demonstrated with the Kadecia Baird vs Shaunae Miller case, had been the focus of the media leading up to the AGM and Elections. However, sport associations, most notably the AAG has ensured that Yassin prevail unopposed.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Crowds, chaos and complaints
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The folly of the cash grant distribution is a textbook case of what happens when a government,... more
Why the U.S. Should Strengthen Trade Ties with the Caribbean
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- A rules-based international trading system has long been a foundation of global commerce,... more
Weekend Cartoon
