YESTERDAY, at simple a briefing  ceremony, organiser and main sponsor of the inaugural Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) FastBall Tournament disclosed to the media that the event is progressing down a very success-filled lane. The ceremony was attended by CEO of GT&T, Yog Mahadeo, Chief Financial Officer Royston Raichan, General Secretary of the GFF Noel Adonis and Co-Directors of the organising committee, Kashif and Shanghai Organisation.
Both representatives from the main sponsor were elated by the response the tournament had been receiving. The tournament had over 200 teams registered to participate in the event which is budgeted to over 40 million dollars.
GT&T’s main goals in getting the tournament off were to bring unity between the grassroots of Guyana and the city together and also to get more corporate entities involved.
According to Co-Director of the Kashif and Shanghai organisation, Kashif Muhammad, “the fastball idea was a fantastic idea and we are getting fantastic results as we watch it take over the regions it’s played in.”
He, like Mahadeo and Raichan, welcomed the response and also discovered that areas as far as Port Kaituma hungered for the sport in the area. The second phase of the tournament is rapidly approaching, as areas such as Bartica, Lethem, East Bank, East Coast and Linden are soon to be completed, before the final string of teams will compete for the top spot.
Meanwhile, the Essequibo zone of the tournament was recently completed and that was one of the areas in Guyana that have been football-starved.
Queenstown-A moved on to the second phase of the tournament after defeating Henrietta in the final 2-0 at Hampton Court ground in Essequibo.
It was a historic day since there was never so much football played in Essequibo at one time. The players and fans hailed the organisers for the gesture and also hoped for continuous football on the Essequibo Coast since grounds and sponsorship hampered the sport in that region.
Teams came from Supenaam, Charity, Henrietta, Queenstown, Richmond, Dartmouth, Castle, Joint Service (Militants), Coastland All Stars and the veterans. NOC had entered but withdrew at the last moment.
The level of play was of a fair standard, very competitive and exciting. The spectators were very supportive of their teams and were well aware of the rules.