Archery Guyana Inc. continues to lead the way for sporting entities and set a precedent last Saturday 31st October, 2020 as it hosted the first Virtual AGM via an online Platform. Members signed onto Microsoft Teams and were given an opportunity to discuss the activities and plans for the way forward to promote the sport of Archery in Guyana.
The Meeting commenced with President of Archery Guyana, Mr. Mohamed Gamal Khan delivering powerful Opening Remarks to the members present.
Thereafter, Minutes from the previous Meeting were adopted and then Secretary-General of Archery Guyana, Mrs. Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon delivered a comprehensive Report to the membership, giving a brief background from its establishment in August 2014 to the end of the reporting period of 30th October, 2020.
She reported on the status of the website, membership, the various Sub-Committees and the proposed National Scchool programme which had started just before the COVID-19 Pandemic, with the introduction to Isa Islamic Academy and Queen’s College.
International events were also reported on such as the World Archery Ranking Tournament, in Santiago City, Chile last year when Wayne Gerald DeAbreu, represented Guyana at this event which also served as a Second stage of qualifier for Pan-American Games, Lima 2019. The Caribbean Beginners and Developmental Championships was also reported on with Robert Singh’s participation in Santo Domingo. The Caledon Tournament in Ontario, Canada was highlighted when Devin Persaud created history as the first Guyanese to secure a Minimum Qualification Score for Recurve Men with a 640 score resulting in Guyana being placed on an official List released by World Archery as one of the countries eligible to apply for the invitational place at the Olympics. Double 720 Qualification (Baltimore) was also mentioned where Wayne Gerald DeAbreu and Devin Persaud also participated. This World Archery approved tournament resulted in DeAbreu with a 626 score and Persaud with a 620.
With respect to local competitions, the inaugural Archery Guyana’s Seven Seas Indoor Championships 2019 was reported on especially that the result demonstrated the positive effects of Archery Guyana’s Development Programme whereby ordinarily lower ranked Archers outshot the more senior Archers to put themselves in top spots.
Mrs. Persaud-McKinnon reported on Heritage Games 2019 where Archery Guyana was pleased for the fifth year, to have partnered with the Ministry of Indigenous People’s Affairs for another grand weekend of traditional archery.
Archery Guyana was extremely active with its activities and communication during the COVID-19 Pandemic with members which included issuance to members of a document with Recommendations as to safety measures when returning to Training, the suggested protocol set by World Archery regarding the safety measures to return to regular training together with a document released by the WA Medical Committee. Archery Guyana in collaboration with the Guyana Olympic Association, facilitated the allocation of each and every one of our Members with face masks during this period.
A number of online courses organized and facilitated as a result of the affiliation with World Archery such as a Sports Science in Archery Course and a course on classification basics: assignment, assistive devices and equipment inspection have been offered to members, a number of whom participated during this period.
At the end of August 2020, yet another FREE course was offered to our membership for the introduction of and development of Compound Archery.
Archery Guyana also participated in a virtual Bow-Tuning Session organised by Trinidad & Tobago USA Level 4NTS archery coach Sherwin Francis.
During the reporting period, the Board of Archery Guyana also participated in a successful virtual Meeting with World Archery Americas (WAA) and other National Federations where a number of areas were discussed. Coach Trainers was also discussed and in this regard, Phil Graves gave a brief presentation and is working on an online Module moving forward in the COVID-19 Pandemic new normal. It was a very useful Meeting which helped us to streamline our local plans moving forward.
The Secretary-General went on to report on the Online Archery Cup of the Americas which set out to have the spirit of competing on a virtual arena whilst abiding with the COVID-19 safety measures across the Americas (north, south and Central America and the Caribbean) Archery Guyana was tasked with conducting Qualification rounds, which was a 600 round. Scores were recorded electronically, pictures of equipment, scorecards and the target were sent to the Competitions and Judging Committee via Whatsaap for tabulations and scrutiny. Seven archers took on the challenge of recording the highest score out of 600 for Guyana. Canadian-based Guyanese Wayne DeAbreu and Devin Persaud shot from an Archery facility in Canada, while Umasankar Madray, Nicholas Hing, Robert Singh, Samira Duncan and Talitha Kissoon shot from various locations in Guyana. Cognizant of the National Covid-19 Protocols in place and abiding with the laws and the social distancing safety rules as to the limit on the number of persons permitted to be in any gatherings, shooting was done in pairs at different time and dates. Regrettably, we did not make it to the Elimination shoot but look forward to future competitions.
Online National Archery Judges’ Seminar
Plans earlier this year to host a National Judges’ Seminar regrettably had to be postponed for the various intervening unforeseen circumstances. However, World Archery Americas hosted an online seminar to train national judges. Consequently, an invitation to participate was extended to members and persons considered suitable to this novel, Inaugural Online seminar to train National Archery Judges hosted by the International Governing Body for Archery.
This training seminar is historic in that it will result in Guyana for the first time having National Archery Judges. This training also provides a unique opportunity to successfully applicants to develop a new skill set and participate in the advancement and development of the discipline in Guyana. National Judges are held in high esteem and depending on personal commitment this can also open a pathway into becoming a Regional Archery Judge on the WAA (World Archery America’s) roster of Judges and by extension an International Judge on WA (World Archery) roster of Judges. Applicants should be persons who are matured, honest, decent and possess integrity.
This is the first PAID Course we offered for the last 3 years and it is a 12 session seminar which started on October 12th and will conclude on November 6th. We are pleased to announce that there are currently 11 (eleven) persons participating in this Course which will conclude with an Exam.
Indoor and outdoor practice sessions was reported on as continuing with the kind permission of the NSC and the Ministry at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue and at the Carifesta Sports Complex Ground, Carifesta Avenue.
Collaboration with International Bodies was reported on such as World Archery, World Archery Americas, the Caribbean Initiative Meetings which is part of a Caribbean initiative to have archery federations in the region working more closely with the aim of having archery as part of the Carifta Games, for greater development and exposure for our athletes. Archery Guyana’s President, Mr. Gamal Khan represents Archery Guyana on this virtual forum.
Collaboration with Local Bodies was reported on such as Guyana Beverages Inc., Muslim Youth Organisation and MMG.
It was also announced that a Specially Convened Committee mandated to develop the sport of Para-Archery in Guyana was established. This initiative followed on the heels of our attendance at the recently held World Archery Americas Meeting on the development of Para-Archery conducted via an online Platform.
Archery Guyana from time to time seeks to host Fundraising events. Last year they were approached by GTT for their Fun-Days and Duck Curry events. In December last, they were asked for the past 2 years to assist with the Archery Fundraiser at St Joseph Mercy Hospital Christmas Fair. As usual the archery games were very well received by the crowds. On the last occasion, their entire proceeds were donated to assist with the building of a Home for the Elderly. The most recent Fund-raising exercise has been the sale of Archery Guyana shirts. In this regard, Nicholas Hing and Wayne DeAbreu were thanked for their respective stunning designs.
It was also reported that since the initial request for affiliation and approval was made to the GOA in 2014, this was achieved only last year. Since then the Board has duly made an application for what would have been the Tokyo 2020 Tripartite Commission Invitation Places and learnt that Archer, Devin Persaud was ranked fifth in priority by the executives of the Guyana Olympic Association and his name will be submitted in the priority list to the IOC for consideration for the Tripartite application. They are awaiting favourable consideration in this regard.
Prior to the Covid-19 Pandemic , Archery Guyana was also planning to host a 20-hr Olympic Recurve Clinic with 2 persons from Canada including Wayne DeAbreu to include persons from Regions 4, 5, 6 and 10. A proposal was put forth to the GOA and it was suggested that this be a good project for an Olympic Solidarity Course. The said proposal has been duly submitted and is awaiting favourable consideration to facilitate plans for the way forward.
Guyana Olympic Committee was thanked for inviting Archery Guyana in its Seminars thus far and in relation to this, it was reported that two of their members and Coaches, Mr. Nicholas Hing and Mr. Umasankar Madray participated in the Plus 1% Training event hosted last year by the Guyana Olympic Association from June 29-30, 2019. Also, last year, on Saturday, 26th October 2019, the Guyana Olympic Association hosted a Sports Forum. National Head Coach, Mr. Nicholas Hing represented Archery and participated in this Forum.
The National Sports Commission was also mentioned as being very supportive of Archery Guyana in so many ways with access to the various sporting facilities.
Upcoming Events
- Guyana will be represented at the prestigious World Archery Americas General Assembly in November by three (3) members: Mr. Mohamed Khan, Mrs. Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon and Mr. Robert Singh.
- Target Building Project – This is a continuous Project undertaken by Archery Guyana: the Target Building Project which is currently being conducted by members locally. In this regard, we would be most grateful if you can all keep any construction plastic, plastic wraps, packing foam, canvas and so on that you would ordinarily discard to assist Archery Guyana since they require large quantities which will be used to fill these locally used targets. Archery Guyana would happily take these items off your hands to assist with this Project.
- PVC Bow Making Seminar – You would all recall the fantastic experience we had here in Guyana when Diego visited and we launched Archery Guyana with the PVC bow making Seminar. We would like to host another session in the near future so as to build more bows which can in turn be used for training and whetting the appetite of new members.
- Virtual Q&A Session with Wayne and Devin – This is a recent offer we are developing and will advise further on details but I am pleased to announce that our top Archers to date have offered to host a Q&A session and address any questions as regards training, coaching or anything archery related. We thank them for their kind mentoring offer and I am sure that this will be one class that will be filled to capacity. Keep checking
Thanks & Collaborations – Thanks are expressed to the following persons who assisted in one way or the other for reporting period: The Ministry of Sport, The National Sports Commission, Mr. Ryan McKinnon, Infotrans Guyana Inc, Neutrino Inc., Mr. Julius Simon, Commissioner General Mr. Godfrey Statia, the Guyana Revenue Authority, Mr. Harryram Parmesar, Parmesar Accounting Firm, Members and the Board of Archery Guyana Inc., Guyana Beverages, Mr. Umasankar Madray, Mr. Robert Singh, Mr. Ray Beharry, Seven Seas, Massy Industries, Brand Manager of Guyana Beverages Inc, Raymond Govinda, General Manager of Guyana Beverages Inc, Samuel Arjoon, and to the general management of Guyana Beverages Inc., Muslim Youth Organisation (MYO) and the media.
Treasurer of Archery Guyana, Mr. Nicholas Hing, then presented the Financial Statements up to end of October, 2020 to the membership. It was verified by the Internal Auditor, Mr. Ray Beharry and reported that Archery Guyana also goes the step further to have external auditors review the financials. In this regard, thanks were expressed to Mr. Harry Parmesar of Parmesar and Parmesar for his usual un-hesitating, professional services rendered to the sporting body.
In Photo below: From left to right: Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon, Mohamed Gamal Khan and Nicholas Hing
