At a community meeting with Guyanese living in the New York area on Thursday night, President Irfaan Ali reassured curious members of the diaspora that the investigation into the MV Barima ferry tragedy will be impartial. He also recommitted his Government to salvaging vessels which continues to sit at the bottom of the ocean, just offshore Essequibo.

It was the President’s first engagement with members of the diaspora in New York since the July 18 tragedy which claimed more than 100 lives.

“We are not hiding from salvaging; there is a process and that process is ongoing. We are not hiding from investigation, the COI is doing its work right now and I am not going to interfere in the work of the COI,” the President noted.

The President acknowledged the ferry tragedy as one of the greatest tragedies in the country’s history.

“There is nothing to hide, we have appointed one of the most accredited Commissions of Inquiry you can find. The Commission of Inquiry would have started it work; we then went out to a public tender to get a company that can do the salvaging of the vessel—if the President pick a company, you will say he pick his friend—we went to a public process, we have the bids that were received in that process. The technical people are reevaluating those bids so that the company can be selected to do the salvaging,” the President said.

Back in July, President Irfaan Ali announced the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry to probe the circumstances that led to the tragedy. He has repeatedly said that he will be guided by the recommendations put forward by that Commission of Inquiry.

But although members of the Commission took their oath of office more than a month ago, public hearings are still to begin. The Commission has been accused of being slothful in its work as family members of those who died and survivor seek closure.

The Commission is mandated to conduct a through, independent, impartial and comprehensive public inquiry into all circumstances surrounding the capsizing and sinking of the MV Barima and all matters connected to the tragedy.

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Source: News Source Guyana

Shamar Horatio produced a remarkable double-podium performance at the South American Games, claiming individual 200m bronze before anchoring Guyana’s 4x100m relay team to a record-shattering bronze in Santa Fe, Argentina.

Horatio got Guyana’s track medal campaign underway on Thursday evening with a blistering run in the Men’s 200m final, stopping the clock at a personal-best 20.53 seconds.

Colombia’s Ronal Longa took gold in 20.43 seconds, narrowly edging Ecuador’s Katriel Angulo (20.50s) into silver.

The race brought heartbreak for fellow Guyanese runner Tishawn Easton, who pulled up clutching his hamstring midway through the bend after qualifying strongly from the heats.

Horatio returned to the track shortly after to anchor the Men’s 4x100m relay team to another landmark podium finish.

The quartet of Akeem Stewart, Onesi Dunn, Revon Williams and Horatio delivered a seamless performance to cross the line in 39.23 seconds, taking bronze and obliterating a 50-year-old national record of 39.59 seconds that had stood since the 1975 Pan American Games.

The track success adds to Guyana’s medal count at the Games, joining earlier podium finishes secured by boxer Emmanuel Pompey and taekwondo athlete Ceili Peterson.

In the field events, six-time national champion Leslain Baird produced a valiant season’s best throw of 77.69m in the Men’s Javelin final, narrowly missing out on the medals to finish fourth overall against a high-calibre South American lineup.

On the track earlier in the week, Simeon Adams reached the Men’s 400m final with a season-best 47.12 seconds in his heat, eventually placing sixth in 47.53 seconds behind Brazil’s gold medalist Alison Alves (44.61s).

In the women’s sprint events, Kenisha Phillips missed out on the 200m final after posting 24.67 seconds in her heat, having previously registered 55.41 seconds in the 400m semi-finals.

Away from athletics, tennis star Sachia Vickery continued her impressive singles campaign.

After capitalising on a first-round bye with a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Paraguay’s Leyla Britez, Vickery battled past Chile’s Antonia Vergara 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to march into the semi-finals.

Meanwhile, Guyana’s squash contingent exited at the quarter-final stage, with both the men’s and women’s teams suffering 3-0 defeats against Peru and Colombia respectively, following impressive early-round victories over Bolivia.

 

---

Source: News Room Guyana

West Indies players are set to take a pay cut, with Cricket West Indies (CWI) announcing a 25% reduction in retainer fees as part of a wide-ranging series of steps the board has termed “a comprehensive counterattack against all the challenges we face financially, developmentally and competitively”.

While international players will remain on 12-month contracts, domestic players will now be on retainer contracts reduced to seven months.

West Indies has been at the forefront of a global trend of players rejecting central contracts to pursue careers as T20 franchise freelancers. CWI’s latest move seems likely to accelerate this trend.

“We appreciate the spirit of cooperation of the West Indies Players’ Association and the players who have demonstrated their understanding of the circumstances we all face,” CWI chief executive Chris Dehring said in a statement. “While not ideal, it is a necessary step towards financial stability.”

Dehring also announced a restructuring of domestic tournaments in the Caribbean, suspending this year’s editions of the men’s Super50 tournament and the women’s T20 Blaze.

CWI has cited operational costs as the primary reason behind that decision.

“Our domestic tournaments as structured historically, where Cricket West Indies bears the entire cost of every national team and tournament – whether it is age-group, development or senior for both men and women – including salaries, match fees, airfares, hotels and event staging costs, are simply unsustainable,” he said.

“The high cost of domestic travel and accommodation absorbs too much of our scarce resources every year instead of being deployed for the direct benefit of our cricket.

“Indeed, over eighty million US dollars has been spent by Cricket West Indies with domestic airlines over the past 15 years, without a reciprocating dollar of sponsorship from those beneficiaries. We must also deal with the immediate cash crunch brought about by years of bearing this burden and the crippling financial losses that emanate as a result.”

Some of CWI’s financial pressures, Dehring said, also stemmed from the terms of an ICC loan to the board.

“In July of this year, the ICC approved a loan facility to Cricket West Indies totalling US$16 million to provide temporary relief to our chronic cash flow challenge, available in 3 tranches over the next year,” the statement said.

“As with any other lender, this loan comes with terms of repayment and conditions that will require Cricket West Indies to attain critical metrics in order to access those funds starting this month.”

With the Super50 tournament suspended, a crucial step in the pipeline to the West Indies men’s ODI team has now been lost. West Indies missed out on qualification for the last ODI World Cup in 2023, and are due to take part in a qualifier in February-March 2027 for next year’s edition.

CWI has announced that it will focus on preparing the ODI players for the World Cup qualifiers by arranging a series of white-ball matches against a visiting England A team in November, followed by an ODI team camp.

West Indies’ unique position in global cricket – as a composite team of independent nation-states – is set to be put to test over the next two years, with individual nations set to send teams to the Pan American Games in Lima next year and to the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

The top-four finishers from the 2025-26 Super50 tournament have been announced as the qualifiers for the men’s event at the Pan American Games – though that will be a T20 rather than 50-overs tournament – and the top-four finishers from the 2025-26 T20 Blaze will take part in the women’s event.

In place of the suspended Super50 and T20 Blaze, CWI has announced qualification tournaments for the men’s and women’s events at the 2028 LA Olympics.

The cricket boards of the individual nations will bear the costs of these tournaments.

“These replacement tournaments will be by invitation to the 10 countries under the aegis of Cricket West Indies that qualify for Olympic participation,” Dehring said.

“We are excited by these new invitational tournaments, the dates for which are being finalised. As given the higher stakes and prestige, it’s an opportunity for individual countries to galvanise national resources to chase Olympic glory, with the responsibility and cost of participation falling on their respective national cricket & Olympic associations, private sectors, governments and people, hopefully fulfilling a desire to make a meaningful contribution to their national team’s hunt for Olympic Glory.

“The winners of those tournaments will qualify for the ICC Olympic Qualifying tournaments for a spot in Los Angeles in 2028.”

Next year’s edition of the Women’s Super50, meanwhile, will be replaced by a Best vs Best development tournament.

The West Indies Championship, the four-day domestic tournament, will continue with the bilateral-series, 12-game format used in 2025-26.

Each team played one bilateral series of three games against one opponent, and the top three teams on a composite table qualified for the playoffs. (Cricinfo) 

---

Source: NEW ROOMS SITE

Guyana’s dominant run at the South American Powerlifting Championships looks set to continue as a formidable quartet of lifters prepare to take the platform on day six in Santiago, Chile.

Duarte Hetsberger, Demetri Chan, Matthew Maycock, and Olsen Batson will step up on Friday with the Golden Arrowhead on their shoulders, eager to maintain Guyana’s remarkable streak of securing medals on every single day of competition so far.

Under the watchful guidance of head coach Kerma Singh and rising coaching talent Bjorn Williams, the squad will feature a mix of seasoned international campaigners and promising tournament debutants across multiple weight classes.

In the 83kg Masters 1 class, Hetsberger and debutant Maycock are set for a dual-pronged assault on the podium as they lock horns with top contenders from Peru and Uruguay. The tandem will be targeting a bumper medal haul while gaining vital international platform experience.

The 83kg Open category sees experienced international athlete Demetri Chan take center stage. Chan will pull double duty by also contesting the Bench Press division, facing down a stacked field comprising lifters from host nation Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Ecuador, and Suriname.

Despite the intense regional competition, Chan will back himself to deliver under pressure and add to his country’s mounting tally.

Meanwhile, fellow debutant Olsen Batson faces a stern test in the highly competitive 93kg Junior division. Batson will go head-to-head with elite opposition from Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile as he aims for a dream podium finish in his first major international appearance.

With five more Guyanese lifters scheduled to take the platform on Saturday, Friday’s action offers the contingent a prime opportunity to build further momentum and cement their reputation as one of South America’s emerging powerlifting forces. (Modified Press Release) 

 

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Source: NEW ROOMS SITE

A man accused of masterminding a burglary at the home of a Mon Repos businessman has been remanded to prison.

Vishall Ramdhanie appeared at the Sparendaam Magistrates’ Court on Friday and pleaded not guilty to break and enter and larceny.

Police allege that Ramdhanie and others broke into the Agriculture Road, Mon Repos home in the early hours of September 26 and stole six audio speakers and two amplifiers, worth $ 500,000 in total, along with two million dollars in cash.

He returns to court on October 14.

---

Source: News Room Guyana

The 2026 edition of GT20 Canada is set to be played in the Caribbean, in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, during the October-November window.

The move is to a “deepen cricketing, developmental and commercial ties between Canada and the West Indies”, according to a CWI media release, and is specific to the 2026 season, with the tournament scheduled to return to Canada in 2027.

The move will also give Canadian and emerging North American players the “opportunity to compete alongside established Caribbean and international cricketers, while West Indies players will gain greater exposure to the Canadian cricket ecosystem,” the release said.

“As the only full member of the ICC in the hemisphere, we believe it is important to forge mutually beneficial relationships with ICC Associate Members across the region, for the health of the game and, indeed, for the continued development of West Indies cricket,” Chris Dehring, Cricket West Indies CEO, said.

“Hosting the 2026 tournament in the Caribbean before its return to Canada next year marks the beginning of a partnership that can facilitate the continued development of Canadian cricket while showcasing our region as one of the great cricketing regions of world cricket.”

Arvinder Khosa, President of Cricket Canada, said: “NCL GT20 is fundamentally a Canadian tournament, and the Caribbean provides a special home for our 2026 edition. This is about much more than taking a tournament to another country for one season. It is about building a bridge between Canadian and West Indies cricket, connecting players, administrators, fans and commercial partners.”

The GT20 Canada, launched in 2018, has had four seasons so far. While the 2020, 2021 and 2022 seasons were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2025 season did not take place amid restructuring after Cricket Canada awarded a long-term license to National Cricket League (NCL) Canada last year.

For 2026, the tournament will feature five teams, down from six, with the franchises also rebranded under new names.

Toronto Nationals won the 2024 edition of the GT20 Canada, beating Montreal Tigers in the final in Ontario. (Cricinfo)

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Source: News Room Guyana

West Indies head coach Daren Sammy sees the ODIs against India as an opportunity to see where his team stands in the format, while also attempting to end a two-decade wait for a bilateral series win in the country.

“It’s been 24 years, we’ve not won a series here in India,” Sammy said ahead of the first game on Sunday.

“So it’s a great opportunity for us as a team to come out here and challenge ourselves and measure up ourselves as to where we are in ODIs. And I think it’s a great opportunity for us, the players that we have, to come and put in a good show against India and look to win a series, something we’ve not done in 24 years.”

With West Indies set to play the ODI World Cup qualifiers early next year after missing out on automatic qualification for the 2027 tournament, Sammy also views this three-match series, starting in Thiruvananthapuram, as an important part of the team’s preparation.

“If you have to win a major ICC event, especially in the white-ball format, you have to beat India,” he said. “And we playing them here at home in their conditions and performing well and winning gives us a fair idea as to what we could do as a team and how capable we are in competing on the world stage.

Heading into the qualifiers in February, you know, that is our No. 1 focus – continuing to fine-tune the team so that when we go to the qualifiers, we put ourselves in a position to book our ticket to South Africa.”

West Indies missed out on automatic qualification for the next ODI World Cup. Only the top eight – besides co-hosts South Africa – qualify directly and they are at No. 10. Even a clean sweep against India will not be enough to overturn the deficit, which means West Indies need to go through the qualifiers for the third successive time.

Sammy, however, sees encouraging signs in the team’s progress, particularly that match-winning contributions are coming from several players rather than just one or two.

“The reality of the situation [is] we’ve not made it,” Sammy said. “However, if we have to look back as to where we were and what we’ve been able to achieve as an ODI team, we’ve made some strides.

Missing automatic qualification by six points, starting from where we were back then, which was, I think, 19 or 20 points behind, and accumulating those points, I thought we made a lot of strides in making a claim to automatic qualification.

“Shai Hope is not the only one scoring hundreds. We’ve gotten hundreds from different players… Amir Jangoo, the way he’s played, we’ve seen a glimpse of Sherfane [Rutherford]. I think in 2024-2025, we were looking for that type of form. Alzarri Joseph is back bowling well, just helped Antigua win a CPL title. So yes, we want to give everybody an opportunity in those three games.”

Sammy was also pleased with the emergence of wristspinner Vitel Lawes. The 19-year-old made his ODI debut against New Zealand in July and picked up eight wickets in five games.

“Vitel, to me, he’s a find for us. What we saw in him that caused him to debut against New Zealand was all part of the planning and the processes we put in place. You’ve heard me for years talking about a wristspinner in the West Indies team. And Vitel, he came in and he immediately had an impact on the bowling unit for us.

Still got a long way to go but we will continue with his development through either playing games or the specific work we’ve put in place for him. He’s worked really well with Nikita Miller and Ravi Rampaul here on tour.

So yes, we’ll continue creating those opportunities for him and hopefully he could continue to grow. A little bit fast-tracked but we’re pleased with what he’s done so far.” (Cricinfo)

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Source: News Room Guyana