Keevin Allicock’s verbal exchange with the GBA: President Ali assures athletes of better, going forward

By Jemima Holmes

Through social media and daily publications, the general public’s attention has, over the past week, been drawn to an unfortunate incident that occurred over two weeks ago at the South American Games in Asuncion, Paraguay.

That incident involved the health of Guyanese pugilist Keevin Allicock, who has
lambasted a number of sporting bodies in the aftermath of his experience. The first sporting body to respond to his allegations has been the Guyana Boxing Association (GBA).

On Wednesday, October 26, Guyana Times Sport published an article in which Squash great Nicolette Fernandes expressed her thoughts on the occurrence, and in this publication of Thursday, October 27, Guyana Times Sport is publishing the reaction of President Dr. Irfaan Ali on the issue at hand.

The Head of State took to his social media page and, in a live Facebook video directed at national athletes across Guyana, extended his apologies for the incident and mapped out ways in which the situation would be rectified.

“All the sport events that we compete at, at a National level, brings a sense of joy and pride to us as a country and I’m sure most of us would understand the joy and pride of every athlete who wears the national uniform,” President Ali stated. “But much of this is outside of the hands of Government because a lot of these sporting bodies are independent. Nevertheless, once you are putting on national colours, then a country, government, every single aspect and stakeholder in that country must be responsible.”

Directing his words at the ill-treatment athletes receive from Associations, which has recently been brought to light, President Ali remarked, “And we must all play our part in ensuring that those who wear our national colours are treated fairly, to ensure they are treated with respect, dignity and also that they exercise responsibility in doing what is right, in representing our country, representing themselves.”

The Head of State has detailed his first plan of action, which will begin at the Ministry level. “I believe strongly that there must be some minimum standards. Minimum standards must be set for all our teams, all our athletes when they represent our country. A lot of these Associations, they get financing, they get funding to support athletes’ development, to support athletes in these events. So, its time I think that, from a national level, – and I’ve had a conversation with the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport – and I’ve asked him to engage all the bodies and the athletes, in ensuring that we set a minimum standard,” he said.

“I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I believe that there must be a wholistic conversation. Though the sporting bodies are independent, as I said, wearing the national colours require a level of responsibility that they also, must demonstrate.

“I felt his pain, today I saw another article in the newspaper, explaining the anguish and pain that he went through. And I share a lot of what Nicolette said today in the Guyana Times,” President Ali added, revisiting Keevin’s ordeal.

Additionally, President Ali vowed that the necessary medical personnel will now be mandatory for any Guyanese contingent representing the Golden Arrowhead. He explained, “Those persons [doctors] must be assigned to teams when they are leaving Guyana. So, they can have the assurance of some sort of medical support, physiotherapy support. I think this is important for us as a country, this is important for athletes. We can’t ask our athletes to give of their best and perform at their optimal level, if we don’t give them the support to do so.

“I want you to know that you have our full support,” the Head of State has asserted.

At the October 1st-15th South American Games in Paraguay, Keevin Allicock experienced a health scare for which he had to be rushed to the hospital. However, no medical personnel had been assigned to the 22-member contingent by the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), thus resulting in the fallout.