THE Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) yesterday pumped $2.5M into the coffers of the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation to assist with the successful staging of their 20th annual tournament.

Prior to handing over the cheque to Co-director of the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation Aubrey `Shanghai’ Major, GT&T’s Marketing Officer Abina Fung said

Aubrey `Shanghai’ Major (left) accepts the $2.5M sponsorship cheque from GT&T’s Marketing Officer Abina Fung.

her company is pleased to be associated with the Kashif and Shanghai organization, as over the past eight years, GT&T has given continued support to “what is probably the single largest sporting in Guyana.”

She noted that the tournament gives a clean form of sporting entertainment to the Guyanese society and the opportunity for local footballers to showcase their individual talent.

“We continue to see an improvement in the standard of the tournament over the years…from the final being played at the Providence national stadium to this year’s tournament which is scheduled to be graced with the presence of the `King’ himself, Edson Arantes do Nascimento more commonly known as `King Pele’ and with the tournament continuously growing and of such high calibre, it is fitting that GT&T continue to support it and urge the organisers to strive for excellence,” Fung remarked.

In response, Major thanked the communications `giant’ for their support especially at this time since they have already paid out $15M to charter the Leer 35 Jet that will bring `King Pele’ from Sao Palo to Guyana and take him back to Brazil.

Major said the cost of staging such a tournament is very high and GT&T’s input will definitely take that figure down.