Not content with a stellar career as a powerlifter Guyana’s Demetri Chan has added an academic degree to his sterling exploits.
Earlier this year, Chan competed at the Annual Cuban Classic Powerlifting Championships and secured first place in the 74 Kg division.
In so doing Chan duly etched his name into Cuban sport history as the first Guyanese to ever achieve a podium finish at the competition.
Chan who is an outstanding scholar/athlete has represented Guyana internationally at the Pan-American Powerlifting Championships securing silver and bronze medals.
However, Chan’s latest accomplishment has not been on the powerlifting mats but in the classrooms where the Cuban-trained Guyanese student graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation from the University Of Medical Sciences Of Cienfuegos, achieving a 4.7 Grade Point Average.
It is a feat that has not been lost on the powerlifting fraternity especially president of the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPLF) Franklin Wilson.
“Demetri, we know, has always exhibited a high level of discipline and commitment to the sport as well as his studies, which have paid great dividends. His achievement further strengthens the fact that education and sport, go hand in hand. We look forward to welcoming Demetri back into competition, but more importantly, being an asset to athletes across the board, in his new area of expertise,” said Wilson.
Wilson said his Executive Committee, athletes, and the entire fraternity wished to extend heartiest congratulations to Chan for staying the course and excelling.
And excelled he did.
Not only did he receive certification deeming him the best-rounded student after excelling in both academia and athletics during his time in Cuba, he also graduated at the top of his class.
All of that should have been expected for after all, Chan, a student of the West Demerara Secondary School, later attended one of this country’s finest high school institution, Queen’s College, where he learnt to appreciate the duality of academic work and sport.
Chan said that he would like to express his immense gratitude to the Government of Guyana and the Guyana Embassy in Cuba that continue to work tirelessly with students to facilitate their needs and achieve the feelings of a home away from home in Cuba.
Chan also thanked his family and his team, Hybrid Elites, for their support throughout the years he spent in the Province of Cienfuegos, and the power lifting fraternity in Guyana (GAPLF) for their continued efforts to promote his talents locally and internationally.
