THE Bank of Guyana (BOG) will be hosting the eighth annual Caribbean Region Central Bank Games (CRCBG) from today to Sunday and, according to the vice-chairman of the planning committee for the games Dudley Kirton, the BOG is looking to make this the best games ever. “We at the BOG want to make these games the best ever held in the history of same to date. The teams began arriving yesterday morning, with the largest contingent set to make their way here last night and they are the defending champions Jamaica, along with Belize and the Bahamas.
The Princess Hotel is the Games ‘hotel’ Kirton said.
The CRCBG was first held in 1981 in response to a mandate by the Governors of the Caribbean Central Banks to encourage camaraderie among the Central Banks in the region, with an aim of encouraging staff from all sections of the banks in the Caribbean, an opportunity to interact with their counterparts and at the same time promote networking in an atmosphere of fun, friendly and spirited competition.
The Games was first hosted by the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (CBTT) in 1981 where the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) came out on top and, following a 16-year hiatus, resumed again in 1997 in Barbados – where BOJ successfully defended their title – and is being held biennially with over 250 central bankers attending.
Following BOJ’s emphatic title defence in 1997, CBTT won the 1999 games which was hosted by BOJ who took back the title in 2001 and successfully defended it two years later, when the games was hosted by both the Eastern Caribbean Central Banks (ECCB) and the Central Bank of Bahamas (CBB) respectively.
In 2005, CBTT hosted and won the games but BOJ returned in 2008 when the Central Bank of Barbados hosted the games and reclaimed the title, which they will be defending when the action gets under way from 09:00 h today.
The banks who will be participating in this year’s tournament are BOJ, CBTT, Central Bank of Barbados, Central Bank of Bahamas, ECCB, Central Bank of Belize and hosts BOG, with the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH), National Park and the Guyana National Stadium being the venues for this year’s games over the next three days.
To date, seven CRCBG have been contested, with BOJ carting off the title on five occasions and CBTT twice, but this year, president of the BOG Sports Committee Hilton Johnson told Chronicle Sport that his team will be looking to cart off six of the nine disciplines that will be contested.
“We have been undergoing rigorous training sessions for the six disciplines. We intend to dominate the respective sporting associations and bodies and with what we underwent in those sessions, I am expecting us to dominate same, hence taking BOG to the top of the ladder at the end of the games on Sunday.
Personally, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the respective governing bodies for chess, cricket, football, basketball, dominoes and table tennis – the six disciplines we will be looking to dominate and come out on top of in these games,” Johnson stated.
While they do not have a star-studded lineup for each of the nine disciplines consisting of five indoor and four outdoor disciplines, namely football, tape ball cricket, netball, basketball, chess, darts, table tennis, dominoes and volleyball, the BOG will be looking to turn in a creditable performance.
In the cricket department, Transport Sports Club’s (TSC) Keniemo Alphonso will spearhead BOG’s challenge with support from Imran Khan, Ganesh Sugrim, Chanderpaul Persaud and Antoine Evans.
Khan returns to partner former national female table tennis champion Jody-Ann Blake and Carlyle Bowman in the table tennis department, while Milton Fraser and Adrian Gittens will take care of business for the footballers.
National chess player Jason Allicock will be leading the charge in the chess competition with a trio of national netball players namely Adelle Chalmers, Nateisha Fordyce and Nicola Dugan, taking care of business for the BOG’s netball team.
Ryan Stephney, Roderick Britton and Ciprehen Alexander are expected to lead the basketballers’ challenge, while Alphonso and Chalmers return to partner Allister Griffith in the quest for supremacy in the volleyball competition.
The darts team will be spearheaded by Leonardo Butcher and Stephney, with Johnson, Chalmers and Elroy Richards leading the battle of the dominoes players and with a return of one bronze and a silver in chess and table tennis from the last games, the BOG squad is looking to better such a performance this time around, especially with the full backing of their workmates on home soil.