Communities need  to come alive
with gestures such as this one-Kumar
DIRECTOR  of Sport in the National Sports Commission (NSC) Neil Kumar yesterday stated that communities needed programmes such as the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports/Guyana Softball League 10/10 tournament.

Making some brief remarks at the opening ceremony of the event which has over $5m in cash and prizes to be won and was held at the Carifesta Sports Complex, Kumar who deputised for Minister of Sports Dr. Frank Anthony congratulated the organisers for making the event a reality.

“This falls straight into the laps of the Ministry with regards to community sports, as games will be played in communities across Guyana and for this I want to say congratulations to GT&T and the GSL for their sterling efforts in making it a reality.

This is also an advantage for the GSL, who has been working hard as they seek to strengthen softball cricket here in Guyana and this is a gesture I would like to see other sports associations emulate, as not only the players and officials are involved, but schools and different communities and with that in mind, the Ministry and the NSC will support the GSL all the way on this venture” said Kumar.

Also making some brief remarks was Chief Executive Officer of GT&T retired major general Joseph Singh who emulated Kumar in offering his congratulations to the GSL for organising the tournament which his company is pleased to be associated with.

“As you are aware, GT&T is always ready to give back to the community and when we were approached on this venture, we said yes without hesitation, as this is a perfect example of giving back to the communities which will see over 10,000 individuals being involved” said Singh.

He continued to address the audience which included Permanent Secretary in the MCYS Alfred King, saying that his entity which is the largest telecommunications company in Guyana, plans to make next year’s tournament a bigger and better one and urged the teams involved in this year’s tournament to be disciplined at all times, both on and off the field of play.

The tournament which has attracted over 500 teams and is being sponsored to the tune of $5m with a first prize of $1m and a trophy will be played every weekend across the diasporas of Guyana, with a grand final at the world renowned Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground on Sunday 21st March.

At the completion of the brief launching ceremony, Kumar and Singh strode to the wicket, where the former bowled the first ball to the latter to start the tournament and unfortunately for the Director of Sports, he was dispatched for a maximum by Singh over mid wicket.