The National Sports Commission (NSC) on Friday extended its hand of support to national athletes and Sport Associations/Federations by making contributions to different stakeholders, at a simple presentation ceremony in Georgetown.
Youth Basketball Guyana, the Guyana Badminton Association, the Guyana Body Building and Fitness Federation, the Paralympic Association and the Athletics Association of Guyana were some of the associations targeted in this instance.
Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle, pointed out that this is part of continued efforts to foster strong relationships with associations, with the aim of expanding the nursery of sport in Guyana.
“We are also listening to the Associations; we are not going to go back to what happened in the past, we are moving forward and we are encouraging each association to have discussions with us,” the Director stated.
Olympian Chelsea Edghill, through the Guyana Table Tennis Association, has been given a substantial sum to aid in her continued training in high-performance programmes.
Edghill, the first Guyanese table tennis player to ever qualify for an Olympic Games, did so when she earned a Universality spot to the ongoing showpiece in Tokyo.
She won her first match, before bowing out in the second game.
Ninvalle said Edghill presented a complete proposal through the GTTA, on her training for the next two to three years.
“As a Commission, we thought it would be prudent that we support her; we would have injected one million dollars into her, but this is just the initial support.”
Ninvalle noted that this is “not a done deal” as they will review her training and performance after four months to determine whether they will inject further.
A similar approach will be taken as it regards Guyana’s top badminton players Narayan Ramdhani and Priyana Ramdhani.
Ninvalle also indicated that he has taken note of the struggles Guyana’s Olympic athletes endured in order to reach the Games.
“It is not about now, it is about the next five years, the next 10 years, next 15 years, but this Commission is very cognisant about some of the hardships that the athletes would have gone through. This Commission understands what is happening and we will take a collective approach; we may not be able to alleviate all of the burdens that the athletes are having right now but in a short time, we will be able some of the burdens.”
The Director of Sport also indicated the NSC will be supporting 15-year-old swimming prodigy Aleka Persaud after her sublime showing in Tokyo, where she rewrote the national Women’s 50m Freestyle record, becoming the first Guyanese female to dip below the 28-second mark with 27.76s.
Ninvalle added that the Commission will also cater for other athletes who show immense potential.
