– Football, table tennis could join judo, weightlifting on the sidelines  unless govt intervenes

By Marlon Munroe

With the judo and weightlifting associations already opting out of the upcoming Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Puerto Rico, some of the other sporting bodies are hard pressed to garner funds to participate at the July 22-31 championships.

According to president of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) K. Juman Yassin, there were some “difficulties” surrounding whether the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) would have attended the games in the interim.

The GTTA was a late entrant to Guyana’s roster for the championships.

One of the requirements facing the associations is that they must lodge with the GOA a penalty fee of US$1000.

This fee (which is in addition to the airfare expenses) is a stipulation by the organising committee and will be forfeited if associations do not attend the championships.

While Yassin did not elaborate on the “difficulties” facing the GTTA, he did disclose that the association had managed to pay the US$1,000 penalty fee to the GOA.

General Secretary of the GTTA, Godfrey Munroe, has confirmed that the association had paid the US$1,000 penalty fee.

According to Munroe, the association is “grappling with the biggest problem of finance like every other association that will be attending the games.”

The current national table tennis champion also called for corporate and governmental support to raise money to facilitate the team’s travel.

He indicated that three players Trenace Lowe, Michelle John and Paul Davis,  will travel to the games from the United States of America and said as such the burden will not be as heavy although the association will still have to reimburse the players their airfares.

Yassin also said that the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) finds itself in a quandary to come up with funds for the Lady Jaguars team to participate in Puerto Rico.

He told Stabroek Sport that the GFF had reported to the GOA that it was finding it difficult to secure funds to facilitate the team’s travel to the championships.

The Lady Jaguars presence at the games is further shrouded in doubt since Yassin revealed that the GOA had not budgeted for the female footballers.

The number of football personnel, in the vicinity of 20 persons, poses another problem for the coffers of the GOA and the GFF.

Yassin told Stabroek Sport that the GOA had only budgeted $5M for assisting the various sports associations who are likely to participate in Puerto Rico. The associations that were originally scheduled to participate at the CAC Games were boxing, athletics, cycling, squash, hockey, taekwondo, judo, weightlifting, swimming, and rugby, which Guyana will host from July 24-25.

Now Yassin is hoping that the government can intervene and dole out funds to assist the two associations to travel and compete at the 10-day Games.

Yassin said that the GOA has no more funds to expend to facilitate the Lady Jaguars team. The GOA had undertaken to pay for half of the associations’ expenses and the estimated cost for one athlete is $186,000.

When contacted, GFF General Secretary, Noel Adonis, said that the executive arm of the GFF had spoken about the team’s presence at the games but it had not come to an agreement on what will be the final decision. Adonis maintained that the GFF has expended funds from its bankroll to ensure the Lady Jags participate in tournaments and qualifiers for the World Cup.

He said at the moment the GFF was trying to acquire funds from both government and the corporate community since it does not have the financial resources at present.

Further, the football team is preparing for another World Cup qualifier, on a home and away basis with Cuba and funding again will play an important factor in their presence at the international assignment.

Adonis believes more than likely that their presence at these assignments may very well “be dependent on necessity.”  However, he feels that it will be a “shame” if the ladies cannot participate at both games.

Adonis acknowledged the reality of the situation when he reiterated that the executives of the GFF will have to meet to decide the next step.

On the other hand, president of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) Colin Boyce, has stated that his association’s only choice will be for the overseas-based athletes to represent Guyana. Boyce, who only recently complained that his association was in the red financially, said that for the AAG to come up with $186,000 which is required to send one athlete from Guyana, would surely put the association under more financial strain.

And, Yassin said that since the associations have submitted the names of their athletes and officials the next step is to proceed to the United States Embassy. He said that the GOA has already written to the embassy and he does not foresee “any difficulty” with the institution granting the visas to members of the sporting teams identified to represent Guyana at the CAC Games.