The Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) is hoping to raise US60 000 to send its male and female squads to the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championship, set for Tortola from July 1 to 12. 

GABF president Nigel Hinds had reached out to several notable businesses and the negotiations, he said, are fruitful but nothing concrete.
Being proactive, the GABF launched an online donation drive on their website (www.guyanabasketball.com), geared at garnering support mostly from their overseas affiliates, friends and former players of the game and at the time of this report, the donation meter reads US$850.
But in a recent interview, Hinds pointed out that the GABF had reached out to the Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Sport and was told they (Ministry) would offset the shortfall of what is raised from corporate Guyana.
However, speaking exclusively to Chronicle Sport, Minister of Sport Dr Frank Anthony said that Government support for the CBC-bound Guyana team seems doubtful at present.
“I don’t want to say no or yes but it’s kind of difficult at this point because we work on a budget and with all that’s going on in Parliament, we have to account for everything,” the Minister of Sport said.
Minister Anthony said that his Ministry is always open to helping teams participating at tournaments where they could play or compete at the highest level, but also urged the respective associations and federations to make their request in a timely manner.
“Sometimes it’s not easy giving out the funds because we run a budget. We also ask these associations to contact us early and while we understand that some things, like in the case of GABF, are beyond their control, oftentimes there’s little we can do to help because of the position we’re in,” Minister Anthony said.
The longstanding Sport Minister pointed out “we’re hoping we can find some way to help them but at this point we’re not going to commit to anything”.
At present, the GABF is in the process of short-listing players for both squads along with coaches, to begin training at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

(By Rawle Toney)