Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr, in the presence of DoS Steve Ninvalle, makes a presentation to GCF President Anand Ragunauth
In its continued efforts to ensure that Guyanese athletes are afforded every opportunity to represent the Golden Arrowhead, the Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS) and the National Sports Commission (NSC), has supported the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) team for the 45th Chess Olympiad.
This prestigious event is set to take place in Budapest, Hungary from September 10 to September 23, 2024. Hungary hosted the first unofficial Chess Olympiad for teams in 1926 and won the first two official editions in 1927 and 1928.
Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr, in the company of Director of Sport Steve Ninvalle, handed over the Government’s contribution of $2.5 million to GCF President Anand Ragunauth.
While congratulating the GCF President for the strides that chess has been making in the past few years, Minister Ramson Jr underscored the Government’s commitment to the development of chess and other sports in Guyana.
Minister Ramson emphasised that Government would continue to empower athletes by investing in their development, by not only building new facilities and refurbishing those already existing, but by making sure that they were enabled to compete at the highest possible levels they can, reaffirming that this was a commitment of President Dr Irfaan Ali, across the sporting spectrum.
GCF President Ragunauth expressed the gratitude of his Federation for the unflinching support of President Ali and the Government of Guyana.
“We are so grateful for this timely intervention which has relieved the pressure of meeting the demands of travel to this prestigious event. The commitment by President Ali in getting the team the additional funds show chess is being recognised for its hard work and Government is committed in creating opportunities for athletes to compete at the highest level,” he noted.
Team Guyana consist of five males and an equal number of female players who qualified after competing in the numerous tournaments where they gained points according to their performances. The holders of the five top highest cumulative scores for each gender qualified for the team.
A team captain, Ronuel Greenidge has been appointed for the male team and an international Grandmaster, Georg Mohr will captain the female team.
Team Guyana: Female – Woman Candidate Master (WCM) Jessica Callender; Aditi Joshi; WCM Sasha Shariff; Ciel Clement and Treskole Archibald
Male – Candidate Master (CM) Taffin Khan; Keron Sandiford; FIDE Master (FM) Anthony Drayton; Loris Nathoo and Sachin Pitamber
