Juman-Yassin was re-elected unopposed as President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) for another four-year term when the body held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) yesterday at Liliendaal.
Juman-Yassin will continue to lead the association tasked with promoting the work of the local sport fraternity in what will be his sixth term at the helm.
The GOA’s AGM also saw the re-election of Secretary General, Hector Edwards, Assistant Secretary, Dion Nurse, Treasurer, Garfield Wiltshire and two of the three Vice Presidents, Dr. Karen Pilgrim (33 votes) and Charles Corbin (25 votes).
The only new faces are president of the Guyana Table Tennis Association, Godfrey Monroe and Secretary of the Guyana Hockey Board, Tricia Fiedkou.
Monroe (27 votes) has replaced Noel Adonis (17 votes) as a Vice President while Fiedkou will serve as Assistant Treasurer, a new post which not previously up for election.
Fiedkou was voted to the post after garnering 29 votes compared to president of the Guyana Badminton Association, Gokarn Ramdhani who had 13.
Speaking with this publication following his re-election, Juman-Yassin stated he felt “very honoured and pleased” to be elected unopposed by the associations.
He then commented on the recent criticism he has received prior to the elections from journalists from Kaieteur News.
“The criticisms that I faced from two of the journalists at the Kaieteur News were unjustified, they were personal and were mostly disrespectful. I don’t mind criticism but at the end of the day, all the associations know what has been happening, they know the criticisms were unjustified and as a result of that, you saw the decision tonight.”
Juman-Yassin then disclosed that the executive will meet and hold discussions which will be followed by a media briefing.
Monroe, who was voted in as the new VP after gaining the association’s nod ahead of Adonis, president of the Guyana Boxing Association, Steve Ninvalle (eight votes) and President of the Guyana Baseball Association, Robin Singh (14 votes) told the media that he is “looking forward to the challenge” of serving in the post for the next four years.
“It is a lot of hard work but I am look forward to the challenge. I am happy to be elected as a Vice President to the association and one of the things I will like to bring is my knowledge gained from studies and an Executive Masters in Sports Administration.
Monroe added that he wants to hit the ground running by “Helping a lot of associations to develop a strategic outlook and plans in terms of developing a pyramidal structure so that we can start elevating sports in Guyana.”
Mark Bender was the Returning Officer.
