By Kiev Chesney
President of the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG) Claude Blackmore said yesterday he had been reliably informed that Guyana was the only country in the Caribbean where associations had to stand the cost for officials to attend the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games which will take place in Pune, India in October.
Blackmore was referring to the eight tickets that were fully subsidized by the organizing committee of the games and awarded to the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) to be allocated among sports disciplines of its choice.
After receiving two of the eight spaces, the AAG said that they could not afford to fund the cost of the officials and the tickets were given to boxing and table tennis respectively.
Contrary to what was reported by the GOA, the AAG president, who recently attended a council meeting of the IAAF in Cali, Colombia said that he was reliably informed there that: “No other Caribbean country was required to pay for their officials.”
The AAG president declined to expound on the allegations saying, “That is something that I will not get into right now.”
When Stabroek Sport contacted General Secretary of the GOA Ivor O’Brien for a response yesterday O’Brien said: “I think I have already had my say about the Blackmore issue, I have had to do so before and I think I have said enough.”
Before presenting Stabr-oek Sport with the official correspondence from the organizing committee of the games, O’Brien decided to speak out once again saying: “It is unfortunate that he sits on the council of the GOA with that information which is contrary to the information that was fed to us by the organizing committee of the games in Pune, India, it is a double standard.”
Correspondence which was sent from Chairman of the Organising Committee of the 2010 Delhi Common-wealth Games, Suresh Kalmadi, dated February 6, 2007, stated: “Delhi 2010 recognised that it would be necessary to extend the number of participants within this particular edition of the Youth Games to ensure adequate entry levels across the event…”
“I am pleased to invite you to enter 8 athletes for which we will pay a travel subsidy…”
The correspondence also mentioned the terms under which the subsidy would be granted. The documents stated that the organizing committee of the games would provide boarding and accommodation for athletes and their officials for 11 nights, but stated nothing about subsidizing the airfare of officials.
Speaking on behalf of the GOA, O’Brien said that all the decisions made by the GOA were in accordance with the terms put to them by the organizing committee of the games.
O’Brien also said “GOA is not hiding anything, we give the media and the public at large a chance to be aware of all our decisions.”
President of the GOA K.A. Juman Yassin supported his general secretary’s comments and also told Stabroek Sport yesterday: “I have attended many meetings for the Commonwealth Youth Games and I have been repeatedly informed that each association has to find its own money for officials to accompany their athletes.”
Juman Yassin said that this was also confirmed by the Assistant Secretary- Treasurer of the GOA, Garfield Wilshire who recently returned from Scotland where he attended a briefing about the games.
Juman Yassin said further that the GOA had an emergency meeting with the AAG president on Thursday evening to deal with what he termed “the adverse decisions made by the AAG based on reports in the media.”
The GOA president declined to comment on the outcome of that meeting but Stabroek Sport understands that one of the AAG officials walked out of the proceedings.
This is not the first time that the GOA and the AAG have not seen eye to eye on an issue. Earlier this year, Blackmore, who is a vice-president of the GOA, denied any knowledge of Coach Joe Ryan’s selection as Guyana’s track and field coach for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games.
The minutes of a GOA council meeting dated April 21, however, showed differently as it not only confirmed Blackmore’s presence at the meeting, but showed that one of the topics discussed at that meeting was Ryan’s selection.
The GOA subsequently held a press briefing to clarify his selection and distanced itself from the remarks made by the AAG president.
