… male team to compete in Bahamas July 25 –  August 5
LOCAL basketball players seemed jubilant yesterday when president of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) David Patterson announced that Guyana will be represented at the 2011 Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championships, to be held in the Bahamas from July 25 toAugust 5.
Thirteen countries had signalled their intention to compete this year but up to press time, a confirmation as to how many have met yesterday’s deadline for registration which is US1010 per team (male and female) and an affiliation fee of US$200.
In the case of Guyana, the GABF only had to pay $1,210 since they will only be sending one team –  the men – to the championship which, according to Patterson was due to a failed “proposal by the Women’s Basketball Association to secure funding for females out of the USA (which) was unsuccessful”.
Guyana have always been known as a powerhouse at the event; competing in 11 of the 20 tournaments which started in 1981, formally known as the CARICOM Championships until it was changed to the CBC in 2002.
However, after placing third in 2000 when Barbados hosted the Championships, Guyana returned in 2007 (Puerto Rico) with two teams but the females, who would have finished in third place, were disqualified for not proving their nationality as Guyanese.
The male team was made up of all overseas-based Guyanese after the selected locals at the time (Steve Neils Jr, Nkossi Gurrick, Jason Alonzo and Andrew Ifill) were all denied their US visas, needed to enter the Island of Puerto Rico.
“As it is right now, we are looking to send a 100% Guyana-based team,” explained the GABF vice-president Floyd Levi when contacted yesterday by Chronicle Sport.
An estimated US$17 000 (G$3.4M) was budgeted by the GABF to send the male team to the Bahamas using Caribbean Airlines, but, Levi said that with an introduction of a new Airline (RED JET) into the market offering lower prices, it means that their original target would be less to meet.
“Its rather unfortunate that we can’t send both teams to the Bahamas this year, so we took the decision to just send the men because we really want our locals to have some sort of experience and exposure to higher talents and competition,” Levi said.
Asked if the Federation’s decision was based on the introduction of Red Jet in the Caribbean, Levi said, “Not really because we were looking at it with the other airlines, but anyone would want to save, so it also means that our target would be less and we would be more able to properly prepare the team.”
The Federation, Levi says, will now turn its attention to the completion of its National Club championships which is presently at its Final stage –  Ravens against Courts Pacesetters on Friday April 29 and will host an Inter-Association tourney.
‘As Chairman of the selection committee, I would really want to give our best players a chance of making this team but our window is still open to overseas players,” Levi said, adding “but we would have to set selection criteria for the overseas people to meet because, like I said earlier, we are looking to send an all-GT-based team presently.”