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DESIGNED to generate enhanced participation in football among schoolboys as a means of helping to build wider community interest in the game, the inaugural Kashif and Shanghai/Chico Junior football tournament was launched in the boardroom of the sponsor Edward .B. Beharry yesterday. Present at the launching were the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Edward .B. Beharry Group of Companies, Anand and Suresh Beharry respectively, along with Greg ‘Kashif’ Muhammad and Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major of the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation.
In his brief remarks, Muhammad said this tournament which is also being sponsored by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds will be played alongside their annual Kashif and Shanghai Open tournament that is in its 23rd year and will be organised and staged at the same high standards that have come to be associated with the annual tournament for national clubs.
“Teams will be briefed on the FIFA rules under which the tournament will be played and all teams and their players are expected to adhere to the FIFA protocols associated with football tournaments,” said Muhammad.
According to Anand Beharry, his Company is pleased to be associated with the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation, having done so many years ago, where they had sponsored the Open tournament.
“This year, what we have decided to do is sponsor growth in the sport through youth involvement. This year’s inaugural event, we are looking to play our corporate role in ensuring our youths are prepared and ready to move up into the big leagues.
“With this, there must be a transition from primary to secondary into a major football league. We have to have that in our country. We have to have a starting point much like cricket which has clinics for teams going on and they bring you up from a young player, through which Guyana has produced world class cricketers and we always have.”
While saying he will be looking to make the tournament an annual one, the Chairman added, “It’s time we did that in football as well. Our ability is in football and all you got to do is look at the Golden Jaguars who went a far way in their FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifying matches and we need to foster that talent in Guyana at the grassroots level and that’s why we have agreed to sponsor this inaugural tournament this year.”
Eight teams, drawn from eight schools in Georgetown and the East Coast of Demerara, will participate in the inaugural tournament that has seen Edward B. Beharry pump G$1.25M towards the successful hosting. The teams are: Marian Academy, North Georgetown Primary, Tucville Primary, Grove Primary, West Ruimveldt Primary, BV Primary, Uitvlugt Primary and Company Road Primary.
Each of the teams participating in the tournament will receive a full playing kit and prizes such as trophies, memorabilia, computers and school texts from which both individual players and schools on the whole will benefit.
The top four finishers in the tournament will also be rewarded, while accolades for Fair Play, Most Valuable Player (MVP), Best Goalkeeper, Midfield and Defence player and the player who scores the most goals, are up for grabs.
According to Muhammad, the unavailability of the Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) ground in Linden has resulted in no match being played there, but it will not be so next year, as there will be several matches in this tournament, which is being coordinated by Lawrence Griffith (Competition Coordinator for the GFF-FIFA).
Meanwhile, another business entity in Corporate Guyana, Delta Airlines, donated two tickets to the organisation which will be used to facilitate a trip to the USA where they are expected to engage in discussions with several other businessmen in relation to the successful staging of this year’s tournament.
This is the second year Delta Airlines has supported the tournament and Sales Manager Junior Horatio expressed delight at once again being able to render support, adding that the Directors of his company recognise the input of the tournament in the lives of local footballers.
Horatio further admitted that after viewing the just concluded London Olympics, Delta’s management team recognised the importance of corporate support towards sports development.
“We feel that organisations such as ours can be the catalyst to the promotion of sports and by extension the development of young Guyanese sports personalities,” exhorted Mr Horatio.
The K&S principals acknowledged the gesture saying that the gift would offset the expenses associated with organising the tournament, while they extended gratitude to Delta Airlines management for their timely and tangible support.
In his brief remarks, Muhammad said this tournament which is also being sponsored by Prime Minister Samuel Hinds will be played alongside their annual Kashif and Shanghai Open tournament that is in its 23rd year and will be organised and staged at the same high standards that have come to be associated with the annual tournament for national clubs.
“Teams will be briefed on the FIFA rules under which the tournament will be played and all teams and their players are expected to adhere to the FIFA protocols associated with football tournaments,” said Muhammad.
According to Anand Beharry, his Company is pleased to be associated with the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation, having done so many years ago, where they had sponsored the Open tournament.
“This year, what we have decided to do is sponsor growth in the sport through youth involvement. This year’s inaugural event, we are looking to play our corporate role in ensuring our youths are prepared and ready to move up into the big leagues.
“With this, there must be a transition from primary to secondary into a major football league. We have to have that in our country. We have to have a starting point much like cricket which has clinics for teams going on and they bring you up from a young player, through which Guyana has produced world class cricketers and we always have.”
While saying he will be looking to make the tournament an annual one, the Chairman added, “It’s time we did that in football as well. Our ability is in football and all you got to do is look at the Golden Jaguars who went a far way in their FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifying matches and we need to foster that talent in Guyana at the grassroots level and that’s why we have agreed to sponsor this inaugural tournament this year.”
Eight teams, drawn from eight schools in Georgetown and the East Coast of Demerara, will participate in the inaugural tournament that has seen Edward B. Beharry pump G$1.25M towards the successful hosting. The teams are: Marian Academy, North Georgetown Primary, Tucville Primary, Grove Primary, West Ruimveldt Primary, BV Primary, Uitvlugt Primary and Company Road Primary.
Each of the teams participating in the tournament will receive a full playing kit and prizes such as trophies, memorabilia, computers and school texts from which both individual players and schools on the whole will benefit.
The top four finishers in the tournament will also be rewarded, while accolades for Fair Play, Most Valuable Player (MVP), Best Goalkeeper, Midfield and Defence player and the player who scores the most goals, are up for grabs.
According to Muhammad, the unavailability of the Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC) ground in Linden has resulted in no match being played there, but it will not be so next year, as there will be several matches in this tournament, which is being coordinated by Lawrence Griffith (Competition Coordinator for the GFF-FIFA).
Meanwhile, another business entity in Corporate Guyana, Delta Airlines, donated two tickets to the organisation which will be used to facilitate a trip to the USA where they are expected to engage in discussions with several other businessmen in relation to the successful staging of this year’s tournament.
This is the second year Delta Airlines has supported the tournament and Sales Manager Junior Horatio expressed delight at once again being able to render support, adding that the Directors of his company recognise the input of the tournament in the lives of local footballers.
Horatio further admitted that after viewing the just concluded London Olympics, Delta’s management team recognised the importance of corporate support towards sports development.
“We feel that organisations such as ours can be the catalyst to the promotion of sports and by extension the development of young Guyanese sports personalities,” exhorted Mr Horatio.
The K&S principals acknowledged the gesture saying that the gift would offset the expenses associated with organising the tournament, while they extended gratitude to Delta Airlines management for their timely and tangible support.
