Successful CARIFTA Games team pays courtesy call on President

Apr 22, 2017 Sports

-returns to hero’s welcome with motorcade from Airport

By Edison Jefford
The successful CARIFTA Games team yesterday paid a Courtesy Call on President

President David Granger takes a photo opportunity with the CARIFTA Games team yesterday at State House.

of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Brigadier General (Ret.), David Granger at State House after being escorted to Georgetown in a motorcade to celebrate the team’s heroic and historic performance at the Games.
The team arrived yesterday afternoon aboard Copa Airlines after competing at the 2017 CARIFTA Games over the last weekend in Curacao where they amassed eight medals, including four gold, one silver and three bronze medals; it was a historic medal haul for Guyana at the Games.
Family members, coaches and other stakeholders were among those who greeted the team at the airport before they were escorted to the President’s Residence. President Granger told the team that he is proud that Guyana was able to break a 46-year-old record.
Compton Caesar did what no other Guyanese male sprinter was able to do. He won the signature 100m gold medal at the Games. Caesar also won a bronze medal in the 200m; the other three gold medals came from Chantoba Bright (Long Jump), United States-based, Natricia Hooper (Triple Jump) and Claudrice McKoy (3000m).

3000m gold and 1500m bronze medalist, Claudrice McKoy (right) hands over a token of appreciation to President David Granger yesterday at State House.

In addition, Bright and McKoy also won bronze medals, while Anfernee Headecker (1500m) won a silver medal. Guyana’s medals came from five of the 12 athletes in Curacao where the country was able to carve out a fifth place finish overall of 17 countries.
The other athletes were Daniel Williams (200m, LJ) Tarique Boyle (High Jump), Samuel Lynch (800m), Matthew McKenzie (5000m), Kenisha Phillips (100, 200m), Onasha Rogers (100m) and Tremaine Browne (Long, Triple Jump).
With the success, Granger called for a broadening of the base of the sport so that it can become sustainable. “I always compare Track and Field to Cricket… the only reason cricket was able to succeed is because it has a broad base. When a sport has a narrow base it is hard to sustain,” the Head of State said.
Granger endorsed what Director of Sport, Christopher Jones mentioned earlier about sport being part of Government’s development plan for youths. The President gave an example of how sport can bring people together to achieve a common goal.
“Every August, Amerindians walk to one of the villages in the Upper Mazaruni for the Upper Mazaruni Games. Ten villages, raising their own money, come together for one week in harmony,” Granger said, adding that each village is self reliant since it puts up its own pavilion and has its own flags.
According to Granger, if every community replicates such a proactive structure, sport will rise and develop over the years. “Competition is important. I am proud of what you did and I want to congratulate each of you,” he told the

President David Granger hands over one of the memorabilia to Coach, Moses Pantlitz and 100m gold medalist, Compton Caesar (left) yesterday at State House.

CARIFTA team directly.
After his brief remarks, Granger then handed out a 2017 independence coin as a memorabilia to each athlete. Before speaking, Granger had listened to President of the Athletics Association of Guyana, Aubrey Hutson and Jones, who also gave remarks.
“This is indeed an honour to be here. I never thought we would have gotten (here) this far and this short. Through the hard work of the Coaches, we were able to turn out our best performance,” Hutson observed.
Jones indicated that the National Sports Commission (NSC) is committed to working with the AAG to ensure more athletes succeed. He said that coming out of the National Schools’ Championships last year, the Commission has an elite squad.
“We have three sets of athletes. They will form part of Guyana’s preparation for South American Junior Championships in June,” Jones said referencing the 30-plus athletes that were identified from the Schools’ Championships.
After the Courtesy Call, the athletes proceeded to the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) Headquarters in Kingston. The four athletes from Linden in the team will travel to the Mining Town today where the community will receive them in another planned motorcade.

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