NATIONAL Beach Soccer Championship, which gets underway on January 31 in Linden, was officially launched yesterday. The tournament will feature ten teams – six from Linden, two from Georgetown, while the East Coast and East Bank of Demerara will have one representative each.
The Guyana Beach Soccer Association (GBSA) teamed up with title sponsor Corona Beer, through distributor Top Brandz.
“Top Brandz Promotions continues to be engaged in all aspects of Guyanese culture; sport and to some extent information,” said Bobby Vieira, representing Corona Beer.
Vieira added that officials of Top Brandz “feel that it is important that they place some emphasis in working with the community to ensure that there is response, that there is camaraderie within everything that they do. Of course they have a product which they market, distribute and they sell and they want to be able to give back to the community”. Vieira stated.
Rollin Tappin, in thanking Corona Beer for partnering with the GBSA, said that the partnership is of more importance to the development of Beach Soccer in Guyana, than just a league, since with the right people and enterprise, the sport played only on sand, will see a boost.
“We want to really cement this sport in a way that is going to breathe consistent development and by extension will lead to Guyana putting out a very good team out there to represent it,” the GBSA president said
“We are quite happy for partnering with Corona Beer and to really launch this tournament and we want all to embrace this new philosophy of beach soccer … beach soccer is a sport that gives multiple attributes, it builds your fitness, it builds your athletic ability and all the different facets and of course your various skill sets, going into the larger version of the game,” Tappin pointed out.
The championship will be played in two rounds, over an 18-day period. Matches will be played every Sunday at the Bayroc Community Centre Beach Soccer facility and at Kuru Kururu on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway.
First-place finishers will pocket $250 000, second-placers $100 000, while third- and fourth-placers will take home $75 000 and $50 000 respectively.
Corona Beer, E-Networks and 104.3 FM (Linden) and German’s Restaurant are the other sponsors on board.