A MAGICAL MOMENT! – President Ramotar is first Guyanese to touch FIFA World Cup Trophy
…calls it an esteemed privilege on behalf of all Guyana
‘HERE IT IS GUYANA!’ No one can deny the feeling that is being displayed through the broad smile from His Excellency President Donald Ramotar, who proudly holds the FIFA World Cup Trophy aloft at the Banks DIH Thirst Park Sports Club last night. World football’s greatest prize arrived in Guyana yesterday during its extensive 267-day ‘around the world’ journey, covering 89 countries, and giving the opportunity to millions of fans to enjoy a rare close-up view of the authentic solid-gold trophy, the very same one that is presented to the winners of every FIFA World Cup. The original FIFA World Cup Trophy is 36.8 centimetres (14.5 inches) high, weighs 6.175 grammes (13.61 pounds) and is made of solid, 18-carat gold. The base contains two layers of semi-precious malachite while its underside is engraved with the year and name of each FIFA World Cup winner since 1974.
Last night, President Ramotar wrote his name into the history books when he became the first Head of State from Guyana to hoist football’s most coveted prize into the air, calling it an esteemed privilege on behalf of all Guyana and Guyanese.
Present at last night’s gala ceremony were Brazilian Ambassador to Guyana Luis Gilberto Seixes de Andrade; Coca Cola Representative Hector Mantellini; Chairman of Banks DIH Clifford Reis; and FIFA Brand Ambassador Dwight Yorke.
Touching the FIFA World Cup Trophy, which is presently on an 89-country tour during a nine-month period, with Guyana being the 27th country and penultimate one on the Caribbean leg of the journey, is a privilege reserved only for heads of state and countries who would have won it.
The FIFA world cup trophy arrived in Guyana yesterday morning in the ongoing nine-month tour ahead of the World Cup tournament in Brazil next year. Travelling in the Coco Cola 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. (Cullen Bess-Nelson photo)
