Universality spots an option for athletics at Junior Pan Am

…Hutson hopes athletes would qualify in Ecuador

Aubrey Hutson, President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), does not think Guyana’s chances of being represented in the Track and Field discipline at the Junior Pan American Games has been affected due to recent developments.
Prior to a team being picked for the South American Under 23 Championships, the hope of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) was for local athletes to have an opportunity to qualify for the Junior Pan American Games through that event. However, due to visa and travel woes, Guyana was able to send only a 4-athlete contingent to Ecuador for the South American Games.

Quizzed by Guyana Times Sport about what this means for Guyana’s chances at the Pan American Games, Hutson shared that it is not bothersome, and Universality spots are still an option.
“Not too much, you know, because the people who are on the Pan Am qualification list or who were just bumped off are the people who are going. Chantoba Bright is still there. I think Daniel Williams got bumped off. Joanna Archer I think is still up there. So, they basically are trying to go and cement their places and prevent people from bumping them off the list,” Hutson disclosed.
He added, “Just today again, I mean, we would have received communication from the GOA that we need to prepare our two Universality spots, and that is just in case the athletes that are out there get knocked completely off the list. We still will be able to field one male, one female athlete for those games,”
On the topic of travel, Hutson had shared that USA ports might be the best way for Guyanese athletes to get around the world.
With vaccine concerns lingering for the older crop of athletes, Hutson says he is awaiting word on recent developments in order to make a pronouncement.
The AAG President explained, “Well, I’m still awaiting the final pronouncement, because, you know, now they’re saying you can take a booster from another variety of the vaccine that you would have previously taken. So, in the event that, you know, some of our athletes would have taken the Sputnik-V vaccine, I think we have to await the scientists to say, ‘Well, yes, you can take a booster from AstraZeneca or something else like that’, that will allow us to travel to the USA.”
Guyana’s athletes go into action today, and Hutson has said he is grateful for the willingness of the athletes’ coaches to ensure they were prepared.
“At this time of the year, everybody is doing strength training, preconditioning, and pre-season training; and to move from that into competition realm is quite a tough ask. But we did send letters out to every athlete and their individual schools, and they would’ve agreed to so taper their programmes that they can compete comfortably in these championships,” Hutson commented.
The South American Under 23 commenced today, and will continue tomorrow in Guayaquil, Ecuador, while the Pan Am Junior Games are set for November 25-December 5, in Cali, Colombia.