The Annual General Meeting of the Guyana Sport Shooting Foundation, successfully held at the Grand Costal Inn on Friday 5th February, 2016 was well attended and members were given an opportunity to discuss the activities and plans for the Foundation’s way forward to promote sport shooting in Guyana.
At the AGM, President of the G.S.S.F., Ms. Vidushi Persaud opined that 2015 was a phenomenal year for the Foundation and the various shooting entities it encompasses which success was due entirely to the support of the members who un-hesitatingly came on board. The Secretary of the G.S.S.F., Mr. Steve Ninvalle then proceeded to deliver a comprehensive Report to the membership, giving a brief background from its establishment in August 2014 to the end of the reporting period of 31 December 2015. He indicated that the Foundation conducted thirteen G.S.S.F.’s Range Discipline & Firearms Safety Courses which is the elementary and essential safety seminar offered by the Foundation. The theoretical part of the two-day course for the last year was hosted at various venues: the National Resource Centre, Persaud & Associates Law Firm, conference room at National Hardware and thereafter, Mr. Mohamed Qualander made a conference room available at his building which houses Queensway Security. He has since kindly collaborated with the Foundation to make these facilities accessible on a regular basis. For the reporting period one advanced Practical Shooting course was conducted by the Foundation for its members. The Secretary went on to indicate that monthly live-practice sessions were hosted by the Foundation for 2015. For internal competitions, the GSSF was reported as being represented by three members at a Police Combat Shoot hosted by the Chairman T.T.P.S. Sport Shooting Section, Superintendent James and the members of the T.T.P.S. Sport Shooting Section on Sunday 27th September 2015 at the International Defensive Pistol Association Range, Gran Couva, Trinidad & Tobago.
Mr. Ninvalle indicated that for 2015, the Foundation has successfully hosted five Steel Challenge competitions and four Practical Pistol matches at the GDF’s Timehri Ranges with the fifth Match unfortunately being cancelled because of a prior event at the Range. The Practical Shooting Matches continued to be open to all established Practical shooters, with invitations being sent also to the Guyana National Rifle Association but regrettably it was reported that there has been no response on this. The Foundation’s final Match at the end of the year saw the attendance of some members of the Guyana NRA’s IPSC group due to the sharing of this invitation to the Regional Director of IPSC for the Region of Guyana, Mr. Harold Hopkinson.
Over 2015, Mr. Ninvalle reported that the Foundation has seen a continuous growth in number of competitors, as GSSF has been able to continue to conduct safe and successful matches. Every Match was noted to have a very high standard, with capable Range Officials officiating and ensuring that all rules are followed. In Practical Shooting, the quality of stage design continued to be raised as the GSSF procured and received through donation and volunteer work by members. Stage designers assisted and secured materials for stage props which include a number of screens with various ports, barrels and most memorably a platform which doubled as a boat in the Final Match for 2015. In Steel Challenge, the S.C.S.A. Committee also worked together and successfully increased the Foundation’s steel targets and props.
The Secretary further reported on affiliations, stating that the G.S.S.F. is affiliated to three international bodies, the Steel Challenge Shooting Association, the Amateur Trapshooting Association and World Archery Foundation.
Mr. Ninvalle reported to the members that on July 31, 2015, GSSF was accepted as a permanent member of the World Archery Foundation at the 51st World Archery Congress, in Copenhagen when Guyana was among a handful of nations unanimously accepted to Permanent Membership. Thereafter, t He indicated that Monday 24th August, 2015 marked another grand occasion for GSSF when at Carifesta Sports Complex Grounds, officially launching Archery Guyana.
Mr. Ninvalled posited that it was encouraging to have the support from the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs who organised local archers from seven villages including St. Cuthberts and Surama to attend the Launch to display the local bows.
Following the launch of Archery Guyana, the Foundation was pleased to collaborate with Mr. Ivan Persaud, Co-coordinator of the Heritage Games 2015 which were held at the National Aquatic Centre, Liliendaal, on 20th September, 2015. This successful collaboration resulted in the first target archery competition in Guyana to showcase Olympic target archery.
Archery Guyana’s final event for the Calendar year 2015 was the “Christmas Archery Extravaganza 2015” at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue where members of the Foundation and the new members were in attendance to try the Foundation’s own member-made PVC Olympic-styled Bows and obtain instructional training and practice the art of Indoor Archery.
The Secretary went on to report that since the GSSF at the end of 2014 secured affiliation to the Amateur Trapshooting Association, an internal Trapshooting Committee was tasked with pioneering this sporting discipline in Guyana which ultimately resulted in Saturday 17th October, 2015 marking another momentous day for the Foundation when the first clay was launched in a regulated manner at the GDF Range at Yarrowkabra.
A Practice Session was hosted at the end of 2015 and the Trapshooting Committee highlighted several areas to work on and already commenced moving forward with these areas so that the GSSF can continue to introduce yet another stepping stone to an Olympic sport discipline to Guyana.
It was reported to the general membership that the National Sports Commission has been incredibly supportive of the G.S.S.F. in so many ways with access to the various sporting facilities and thanks were extended.
Mr. Ninvalle reported that isought affiliation to the Guyana Olympic Association in keeping with its Constitution. Receiving no formal response, a second letter of request was sent on July 30, 2015 indicating that . At the time, the Foundation was looking forward to working together to establish this Olympic sport to Guyana’s sport portfolio but there has been no response to date. Invitations were sent to GOA and members of the Executive to the Archery Launch which symbolised our country’s high achievement for the sporting community: the prospect of introducing an Olympic sport to Guyana and thereby setting the stage for our second Olympic Medal in the future, again there was no response or attendance. With the more recent launch of yet another Olympic sport: Trapshooting, the Foundation registered its concern at the fact that there has been no response to date but continues to push ahead in its quest to promote sport shooting in Guyana.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Department of Culture, Youth and Sport, Mr. Alfred King, then delivered some brief remarks and congratulated the G.S.S.F. on their achievements to date and being able to achieve clear success in a short period of time and in this regard he lauded the leadership of the Foundation.
The Elections for the new Board of Directors then commenced under the duly elected Returning Officer, Mr. Alfred King, who officially released the following information after the democratic and transparent electoral process.
Members of the Board of Executives elected to serve for the period 2016-2018 are:
President Ms. Vidushi Persaud
Vice-President Mr. Mohamed Khan
Secretary Mr. Steve Ninvalle
Treasurer Mr. Peter Hugh
Assistant Secretary and Treasurer Mr. Ryan McKinnon
Chairman (Steel Challenge) Dr. Pravesh Harry
Chairman (Practical Shooting) Capt. Roul Bhudu
Chairman (Archery) Mr. Nicholas Hing
Chairman (Trapshooting) Mr. Gerard Mekdeci
Internal Auditor Mr. Jagmohan Bassoo
Sincere gratitude were expressed to the various persons who assisted in one way or the other for 2015 and included Minister Nicolette Henry, National Sports Commission, Minister Khemraj Ramjattan, Minister Valerie Garrido-Lowe, Permanent Secretary Mr. Alfred King, Brig. Mark Phillips, Guyana Defence Force, Mr. Seelal Persaud, Commissioner of Police, Dr. Pravesh Harry, Doc.com Pharmacy, Kings Jewellery World, Mr. Ryan McKinnon, Neutrino Inc., The Media, Mr. Nicholas Deygoo-Boyer, National Hardware, Mr. Tulsi Ramnarine, Mr. Lennox Cush, Star Party Rentals,Mr. Hakeem Mohamed, Dr. Soumi SenGupta, Mr. Richard Van Slytman, C&V Shipping, Mr. Vidyanand Persaud and Mrs. Dia Persaud, Mr. Anthony Mekdeci, Mr. Gamal Mohamed, Asst. Commissioner Ramnarine, GPF Commander Hicken, GPF Mr. Bacchus, GPF OC TSU Superintendent Dehnert, Asst. Superintendent Mr. Todd, Cpl Dunn, Mr. Vish Sookdeo, Queensway, Mr. Komal Singh, Mr. Robert Badal, Pegasus Hotel Guyana, Mr. Shameer Mohamed, Ocean Spray Int’l Hotel, Mr. Ryan Rahaman of JR Burgers, Ms. Sharda Veeren-Chand, Demerara Distillers Limited, Mr. Gerard Mekdeci, JT Mekdeci & Co., Mr. Tamesh Jagmohan, El Dorado Trading, Woodpecker Products and Mr. Julius Simon.
The Report of the External Auditors was presented to the membership along with the Financial Statement of the G.S.S.F. This was duly conducted and issued by Auditor, Mr. Harryram Parmesar from the Parmesar Audit Firm.
In picture below: From left to right: 5 of the 8 Members of the Founding Board of the GSSF: Dr. Bhiro Harry, Mr. Steve Ninvalle, Ms. Vidushi Persaud, Mr. Michael Blake and Mr. Ryan McKinnon)
(In picture below: Newly elected Board of Directors pose with the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education, Department of CY&S, Mr. Alfred King. From left to right: Mr. Nicholas Hing, Mr. Gerard Mekdeci, Mr. Mohamed Khan, Ms. Vidushi Persaud, Mr. Peter Hugh, Mr. Steve Ninvalle, Mr. Ryan McKinnon and Mr. Jagmohan Bassoo)
