Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 17, 2015 Sports
Pan Am and Commonwealth C/ships on GAPF radar
By Franklin Wilson
The Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPF) has released a packed schedule of activities for the next two years with numerous local and international competitions targeted to keep lifters in pristine condition
and shape.
Activities have already commenced with the hosting of a successful Novice and Junior Championship which attracted 39 lifters including six (6) females.
And while there would be adequate competition for athletes both local and international, the GAPF will be equally focused on training in the other departments to ensure the holistic development of the sport which has brought glory to the Land of Many Waters.
Shortly the federation will commence a series of Coaches and Referee courses aimed at widening and strengthening the pool of officials at the local and International levels.
Sessions reviewing the constitution so that Gyms can become au fait with the rules are also being planned by the governing body, while Anti Doping seminars to continue the ongoing education of athletes and coaches will continue with assistance from the Ministry of Sport.
The federation has commenced a rigorous programme to introduce the Differently Able (Blind and Visually Impaired) to the sport and this programme which takes place every Saturday at
the National Gymnasium, Mandella Avenue, and has attracted eight (8) athletes so far has been going very well according to GAPF President, Peter Green.
A new addition to the powerlifting calendar will be the Best of the Best championships set for April 26, 2015 where the top three national lifters in each weight category would be invited to compete including those from the just concluded Novices who have shown the ability to achieve exceptional totals on par with some of the senior athletes.
The federation has stated that invitations will be sent out shortly to the lifters concerned with spaces being made available to the next best ranked lifter should the higher ranked decline. Lucrative prizes will be at stake.
Green notes that in terms of international competition, the Caribbean Championships which were originally set for this March in Guyana will now be held during the same month in 2016. This is so since the NAPF will be focusing on its premier tournament, the Regionals.
When questioned if Guyana will be participating, Green responded: “Guyana is not allowed to participate in NAPF Regionals as we are listed in the FESUPO South American block, we can only lift in the Caribbean (NAPF).
Local lifters will focus their attention on the Pan American Championships set for Brazil in September as well as the Commonwealth Championships in Canada in December this year.
Zooming on the just concluded Novice and Junior Championships; Green said that it was a success from a participatory stand point having attracted 39 lifters including 6 females and 24 males in the novices, while there were 7 males in the junior competition.
Orin Alleyne (83kg class) of Upper Demerara Barbel Club won the overall Novice category with Rudolph Blackman copping the junior title while teenager Britney Mack upstaged her challengers to take the female title.
Green admitted that the running of the two separate categories continues to pose a challenge at the administrative level. The weigh-in commenced at 07:00hrs and the championships concluded after 20:00hrs, a long and arduous day for all.
“What also contributed to a long and physically taxing day was the non implementation of entrance rules introduced by the GAPF to prevent late entries as dictated by International standards.”
The adherence to the entry deadline is necessary to allow the championship scorer to input all the data of entries in a timely manner. Green stated that there will be no more compromising of the entry requirements at future competitions. “No late entries will be tolerated.”
There were also issues with the certified computer scorer whose absence forced other table officials to operate the system manually which took twice the time normally taken to insert the relevant information.
To address the issue of not having long days at competition, Green said that they will return to hoisting the novices only in January next year, while the National Juniors will be run alongside the National Seniors in October this year.
2015 CALENDAR
Month Date Activity Venue
March 22nd AGM National Resource Center
April 26th Champion of Champions
Junior/Open C/ships Georgetown
May 24th Berbice Power Bash – Push and Pull (classic) Rosignol
24th Bench Press (classic) Rosignol
June 28th Intermediate C/ships Georgetown
28th Masters (Cat. 1 – 4) C/ships Georgetown
28th Blind and Visually Impaired competition Georgetown
August 9th Summer Power Bash – Push & Pull (raw) East Bank Demerara
October 4th National Raw Classic C/ships Georgetown
National Seniors/Junior C/ships Georgetown
Blind/Visually Impaired Open Championships Georgetown
November 1st End of year Power Bash (Bench Press) Raw and Equipped Georgetown
2016 CALENDAR
February 7th AGM National Resource Center
March TBA NAPF/IPF Caribbean C/ships Princess Hotel EBD
Blind & Visually Impaired C/ships Berbice
April 24th Novices Berbice
May 29th Linden Power Bash – Push & Pull (classic) Linden
29th Bench Press (classic) Linden
June 26th Intermediate Championships Georgetown
26th Masters (Cat. 1 – 4) C/ships Georgetown
August 14th Summer Power Bash Push and Pull (Raw) East Bank Demerara
28th (TBC) South American Championships Princess Hotel
October 23rd National Raw Classic C/ships Georgetown
National Open C/ships Georgetown
Blind/Visually Impaired Open C/ships Georgetown
November 1st End of year Power Bash (bench press) raw and Equipped Georgetown
December 4th National Junior /Senior C/ships Georgetown
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