Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony on Friday night pledged to have the Olympic-sized swimming pool completed in less than a year’s time.
Dr Anthony gave the assurance at the GASA award ceremony.
Dr Anthony said that the ministry had acquired five acres of land in the Liliendaal area and had already signed a 76 million dollar contract with a construction firm to begin work on a date to be announced later.
Apart from having the 50-metre central pool, Dr Anthony said that the venue would also contain a 25-metre warm-up pool and spectator stands, which he felt would attract more fans.
Dr Anthony was of the view that the new venue alone would not improve the quality of swimming in Guyana, pointing out that the way forward was to widen interest in the sport by taking it to other areas in the country.
“The problem that many sports have is that they are centralized to one area and the only way that the association can truly improve the quality of the sport is if they target areas outside Georgetown and develop more swimmers,” he said.
President of the Guyana Olympic Association, KA Juman Yassin, advised the swimmers to make a final push for the Olympics whilst giving them a brief history of the Games.
While he challenged the top age group to swimmers raise their skill level to compete successfully on the International scene, Yassin also stressed the importance of being equally successful in their academics.
Yassin said that although there were many athletics scholarships to be grabbed, the talented local athletes lacked the academic credentials to acquire them.
Yassin acknowledged that achieving the balance between sports and academia was an enormous task, but advised that with the determination and devotion and much needed support from parents it could be accomplished.
GASA president Phillip Walcott said that the award ceremony was a clear indication of the association’s strength as they had showed much fortitude in overcoming many difficulties throughout 2007. He also pointed out the fact that the association had been able to achieve some success regardless of the limited resources and said he hoped that the swimmers would do their country proud when Guyana hosts the Goodwill Championships later this year.
