Guyana’s very own Carlos Peterson-Griffith and Junica Pluck have competed at a StrongFit competition in Barbados on May 4-5.
Carlos Peterson-Griffith will not be participating in the upcoming Worlds competition in June 2019
The competition included a powerlifting aspect (Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift) and as such, the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPLF) needed to make a decision on what would happen.
This occurred because the athletes violated both the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) constitution along with the GAPLF constitution. In Article 14.9 of the IPF constitution it states, “Participating in non-IPF competition: any lifter, coach, referee or official who competes or participates in an international powerlifting or bench press competition not organised, sanctioned or approved by the IPF shall not be permitted to take part in any IPF international or regional competition for a period of 12 months from the date of that non-approved competition.”
Junica Pluck has been suspended for one year
Alongside that, the GAPLF’s constitution states in Section 12, Article 1, point 4 “The stated reasons for suspension are not a closed list and the executive members shall collectively exercise their discretion when opting to suspend a member of the GAPLF. The following may be subject to suspension: “Any lifter, who participates in a contest with other countries without the permission of the GAPLF.”
Both athletes did not inform the Federation that they were going to participate in the event. If the Federation had been made aware, it would have been able to let them know that Barbados was not an affiliate of the IPF and as such, the event they competed in was not sanctioned by the IPF.
The GAPLF has made the decision to not support Peterson-Griffith’s trip to Worlds in Sweden, since he competed at the event without the express permission of the body.
He will not be competing at the upcoming Worlds competition in June 2019 or any other IPF-sanctioned events for a period of 12 months (May 5, 2019 to May 5, 2020). Pluck will also face the same consequences as Peterson-Griffith.
