Georgetown : President Donald Ramotar made history as the first Guyanese Head of State to hold the golden Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup trophy and saw it as “the casting of shadows” for Guyana’s national team, the Golden Jaguars to one day lift the coveted prize as football world champions.
At an event last evening Thirst Park, President Ramotar and FIFA Representative Dwight Yorke unveiled the 18 karat gold trophy that will be lifted by the World Cup tournament champions which neighbouring Brazil will be hosting next year
As he welcomed the trophy, the Head of State said he was encouraged by the unifying spirit which football and other popular sports, particularly cricket in the Caribbean engenders the world over.
Its popularity among the youth population and ability to keep them meaningfully occupied, physically fit and away from unlawful activities like illegal drugs is another reason President Ramotar said promotion of the sport is crucial.
“It is a very important game because it helps to teach us teamwork and success coming from working as a team… in a world that is facing so many problems and wars in some areas; there is definite need to find activities to bring people together. So far sports has proven that is has the capacity to do so,” President Ramotar said.
Among those delivering remarks at this evening’s gala ceremony were Chairman of Banks DIH Limited, Clifford Reis, Brazilian Ambassador Luis Gilberto Seixes de Andrade and Coco-Cola Representative Hector Mantellini.
The FIFA world cup trophy arrived in Guyana yesterday in the ongoing nine-month tour ahead of the World Cup tournament in Brazil next year.
Travelling in the Coco Coal branded airplane, the trophy has so far toured Costa Rica, Fiji, Vanuatu and Tahiti in the South Pacific before commencing the Caribbean leg of the journey.
Its 89 – country tour, including 34 member associations from the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) is unprecedented.
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