The National Sports Commission (NSC) has thrown its support behind young Olympic swimmer, Aleka Persaud, who has her sights set on qualifying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The 15-year-old swimmer became the country’s youngest-ever Olympian, when she qualified and competed at the games of the 32nd Olympiad in Tokyo, Japan just this month.
+ Persaud didn’t just participate at the Games; her time of 27.76 seconds in the Women’s 50 metres freestyle was also a National record. She finished second in her heat. Her time wasn’t fast enough to see her through the semi-finals in Tokyo, but the young Guyanese lass displayed signs that with the right support, she can compete on the international stage.
Following her return home, Persaud, along with her Coach Sean Baksh, spoke about the support needed to advance the swimmer’s career and the hope of matching or even besting the best in the world.
Those calls were heard and Persaud met with Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle, and NSC Chairman Kashif Muhammad, in the company of her coach and president of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA), Dwayne Scott.
“We understand that she’s maybe the best that came out of Guyana for some time, and we would want to make sure that this is not a ‘one stop’ whereby we support, but that we continue to support her over the years towards the 2024 Olympics,” Ninvalle said.
Coming out of the meeting, Ninvalle disclosed that the NSC will start with Persaud’s preparation for the Junior Pan Am games in Cali, Colombia later this year.
The Director of Sport pointed out that a detailed plan was presented to the NSC, where a commitment was made that will see the Commission investing in Persaud’s future.
Ninvalle highlighted that “yes, we would want other athletes to come forward if we have a proposal that we can study, the NSC will do that and where we find justified, then we would make sure that the support is forthcoming.”
“We have just started, there’s a lot more work for us to do, but we want to make sure that whatever we do, we can justify why we have been supporting. It is not by one person. We have a team of people working; we’re pooling our ideas and we’re also listening to the Associations,” Ninvalle said.
The Director of Sport, known for his proactively in the amateur boxing arena both local, regional and internationally, pledged to bring that impetus and full forward thrust into his new role at the NSC, calling for a concerted approach with the associations to propel sport to the next level and beyond. “We’re moving forward and we will encourage each and every association to have a discussion with us. It doesn’t mean that we will have to reach out to each and every Association. The Association can reach out to us too; it must be a 50-50 way,” stated Ninvalle. (Kaieteur News)
