French Guiana set to host 2012 edition of Inter-Guiana Games

- Just four sporting disciplines to be featured

The Inter-Guiana Games (IGG) is on the horizon as French Guiana is set to host the 2012 edition of the tri-nation event among Guyana, Suriname and themselves.

The event this year, according to Director of Sports Neil Kumar, is unlikely to feature its regular programme of seven sporting disciplines since the French indicated  that it might be too much for them to organize.

Kumar said that it was not likely there would be more than four sporting disciplines this year, and a  meeting to discuss the games will be held  shortly in French Guiana after Guyana’s parliamentary break.

Neil Kumar

The meeting in French Guiana will enable the three nations  to arrive at a consensus as to which four sporting disciplines will make the cut.

However, Kumar was unable to say what those four possible sporting events might be since the meeting is still to be held.

Meanwhile Kumar will be lobbying strongly for Track and Field to be a part of the four events since he had hinted that in June at the National Community Basketball League All-star press conference.

It is also possible that basketball will be among the four  since Kumar has a strong interest in the Youth Basketball Guyana (YBG) programme and is a known supporter of the school tournament which is the

yardstick for players to be in the IGG basketball team.

Volleyball may be in the four as well as Kumar expressed his delight at the volleyball programmes being conducted, especially in Berbice.

Finally football might take the spot as the fourth sport since it is one of the major sports worldwide and will definitely be lobbied for by both Suriname and French Guiana.

While none of these  four sporting disciplines are guaranteed a spot in the final selection at  the meeting in French Guiana, one thing is certain and that is the games must go on.

The other three sporting disciplines in the mix are swimming, cycling and chess which will also have a chance of being in the four if not from the Guyanese perspective, from the Surinamese or the French perspective.