Sport successes credited to gov’t’s good relationship with associations
DPI/GINA, GUYANA, Thursday, June 8, 2017
The recent successes by athletes on the local, regional and international stage have been credited to close collaboration between the government and sporting associations. This is the view of Director of Sport Christopher Jones who spoke with the Department of Public Information/Government Information Agency (DPI/GINA), recently. Jones pointed out that the government, since taking office, has played a very supportive role to the various sporting associations.
Director of Sport, Christopher Jones
The supportive role, Jones noted is not only financial but fostering the right environment for athletes. “We have a very close collaborative effort between government and the associations to ensure whatever assistance is needed for their respective athletes, those would have been given to them, and that is why it is no secret as to why we are currently seeing the successes we are currently seeing” Jones explained.
The successes, Jones referred to includes Guyana’s exceptional performance at the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) and the South American Junior Championships. This is in addition to Guyana’s National football under-15 team that walked away as champions at the Soualiga Tournament in St Martin.
Some of the athletes did not only benefit from medals and exposure at the tournaments but also from a number of scholarships to study both regionally and internationally, he noted. The Sport Director pointed out that the “trend will continue” for the development of sports in Guyana.
Jones said there is more to come, “We are hoping to make even more input into the development of the various associations and of course working together with the associations, we would have asked them to submit to us early their agenda for 2018 so that we will be able to plan for them, budget for them moving forward”.
The sports official expects similar performances by Guyanese athletes in upcoming events such as the Goodwill games and the Inter-Guiana Games.
By: Isaiah Braithwaite