– PM pledges Ministry’s initial support of $300,000

WITH the full support of Prime Minister and First Vice President, Moses Nagamootoo, Guyana’s Premier Softball Tournament “Prime Minister’s T20 Cup” was officially launched yesterday at the Everest Cricket Club Pavilion.
The organisers, the Georgetown Softball Cricket League Inc. announced that, the event will see a large number of teams participating, both locally and internationally, as well as a Caribbean atmosphere throughout the three-day event.
Set for October 27, 28 and 29, cricket enthusiasts will definitely see softball in a new dispensation.
At the impressive launching Nagamootoo in delivering the feature address, told the gathering that it gives him great pleasure and honor to be identified with the tournament, since softball actually is a growing area of the sport internationally.
The Prime Minister noted that the tournament, should not just be a game, rather it must be intended to build that sentiment of playing together, sharing together, and competing on the basis of talent.

To this end, Nagamootoo pledges his Ministry’s initial support of $300,000, which will go towards new talents coming out from the tournament.
The Prime Minister was quick to identify that, while much can be done in the area of sports locally, there had been too many distractions in the past, which eventually tempted people who are otherwise very talented to drift away into unwholesome activities.
“So I am very pleased that we now have what was the Ministry or the Department of Sport, Youth and Culture been shifted, and realign to the Ministry of Social Cohesion, because it is possible that we can promote greater inter- personal, inter-ethnic cooperation in Guyana.
“If we include in our daily lives interaction in the area of sport, interaction in the area of culture, interaction in being friendly, and not antagonist as people are easily prone to do in Guyana, because we have a very divisive society politically, and we allow that sometime to flow into other areas of our lives, and so we want to use sports and culture, in particular to help to promote social cohesion, the level of greater cooperation among all our peoples”, the Prime Minister echoed.
He urged all participants to use the tournament to promote a symbol of a better Guyana.
Meanwhile, President of the Georgetown Softball Cricket League Inc. Ian John in his remarks pointed out that the initiative to run-off a tournament of this magnitude was long overdue.

“Since the conclusion of the GT&T 10/10 tournament, we at the GSCL taught it wise to run something of this magnitude, owing to the fact that so much talent came out from that tournament, but we were confronted with a number of constrains, nevertheless it’s here, and it will be here on annually,” John said.
The tournament will be played in two categories, the Masters and All Stars, and entry is open to any number of teams interested to be a part of the tournament.
To date a number teams locally have confirmed their participation. To add some international flavor to the event, Toronto Cup Masters Softball cricket tournament 2017 winners SVC Mafia and New York Hustlers, along with New York President’s X1 and Tri-State Masters, have confirmed their participation as well.
Players must be over the age of 45 in order to play in the Masters category, while the All Stars format is open to all ages.
Teams registering for the Over-45 category must submit photo identification, preferably valid passports for every member of their 15-man squad.
The Over-45 category will make the champions $500 000 richer while in the All Stars category the winning team will collect $600 000.
While, the entrance is free, the organising committee is urging participating teams to have their team properly uniformed with colour clothing, since the tournament will be played with while balls.

Registration forms can be uplifted from Regal Stationery and Computer Centre. 13, Seaforth Street, Campbellville, Georgetown or any member of the Georgetown Softball Cricket League Inc.
Also present at the ceremony was Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, representatives of three major sponsors of Banks DIH Limited, Hero MotoCorp Ltd (Guyana Representative), and Regal Stationery and Computer Centre.
Cricket commentator and Public Relations Officer of the Georgetown Softball Cricket League Inc. Inderjeet Persaud moved the vote of thanks.