By Daniel Haynes

THE Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Under-16 Championships tip off this afternoon at the newly renovated Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH). Guyana, which is hosting the games for the second time in its history, is all ready for the games. According to the Local Organising Committee (LOC), “The court is ready for use, rings have been fully set up, everything is in working order and we are all ready.”
The news could not have come at a better time, as questions of Guyana being ready in time for today’s games were raised.
From an organising standpoint, the smooth running of the games is the main focus. This focus includes team arrivals, team departures and an all-round professional handling by the LOC.
On the other hand, Team Guyana’s preparation was the biggest question of them all, with the team being picked one month to today. Both Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) President Nigel Hinds, as well as Youth Basketball Guyana Director (YBG) Chris Bowman have stated that this tournament is a development tournament, with more effort placed on gaining exposure.
This effort, however, would not take away from the expected advancement in the tournament from the male side. The male team is highly favoured to proceed to the latter stages of the tournament.
The female team however, has less pressure to succeed due to inexperience of the female players, most of whom have started basketball within the last six months.
The mindset reflects the GABF’s focus to develop the juniors in order to build a contending senior team for the future.
As a whole, the tournament is set to run off well and fans of the sport can watch a high level of competition from the Caribbean’s best players.
Today’s games start in the Male preliminary round, with Antigua & Barbuda taking on The Bahamas at 13:00hrs and Barbados facing the British Virgin Islands at 15:15hrs.
The third game of the day will see Jamaica taking on Suriname at 17:30hrs. The opening ceremony will start at 17:45hrs and hosts Guyana face Aruba at 20:30hrs. Under the theme ‘Defending till the end,’ the hosts will look to win their first game at the International level.