Veteran sport administrator Franklin Wilson was at the weekend elected the new President of the Guyana Amateur Power Lifting and Fitness Federation (GAPLF) when the body held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the National Racquet Centre, Woolford Avenue, Georgetown.
Wilson gained the confidence of the electorate ahead of Mark Seymour, who served in the previous executive, as PRO/Organising Secretary. Outgoing President, Gordon Spencer, did not seek re-election.
Owner of Chase Academic Foundation, Henry Chase gained the nod for the Vice-President position ahead of Keisha Abrigo, while Roger Rogers retained his position as General Secretary from the previous body.
The new Treasurer is Maxwell Denny, a qualified and experienced Accountant, whilst returning to the executive after a few years is Denroy Livan who takes on the responsibility as the Public Relations Officer/Organising Secretary, a position he held before.
The Board Members are Keisha Abrigo, Farouk Abdool and Zanele Chase.
Wilson, in remarks after the new committee was asked to take its place by Returning Officer, Vidishi Persaud-McKinnon, thanked the members for the support and confidence reposed in him and the new executive committee.
He said the new body would serve to the best of its ability. Wilson expressed gratitude to the immediate past president Spencer and his team for the work that have put in, since being elected in 2019.
“I would like to express gratitude on behalf of this new committee to President Spencer and his team for keeping the sport going and would like to let him know that we would certainly be calling on him and others to continue contributing to the sport in a tangible way.”
Spencer is the most senior Referee in Guyana and is tipped to head the Referees Corp of the GAPLF, Wilson disclosed. Training and retaining Referees would be one of the priorities of the new body Wilson further shared.
“We would also be working on reforming our constitution to make it more modern and one of the areas is increasing the term of office to two years, from one. Coaches training is another area that that the new body would pursue.”
Wilson also stated that the reviving of the Caribbean Championship that Guyana hosted in 2010 under the presidency of Peter Green would be a high-priority agenda item for the committee.
Some level of talks would have been initiated by Secretary Rogers with counterparts in Trinidad and Tobago. Suriname, Jamaica, and Barbados amongst other nations would be approached to reactivate the Caribbean Championship.
Additionally, the new VP Chase has a passion to see a national school championship being introduced and the new committee would be working assiduously towards making this a reality in the near future.
Hosting of the GAPLF’s calendar competitions will be done apart from athletes being selected for overseas competitions.
Intermediates, Raw Nationals, and Senior Nationals are the remaining local competitions that are slated for this year. Novices were held on February 19 at Cornelia Ida on the West Coast of Demerara.
Another aim of the new committee is to host competitions in all three counties, engaging and involving gyms from all around Guyana.
