SOME of the country’s top ‘ballers’ will converge on the Burnham basketball court for two days, in what is expected to be exciting basketball, when one of the country’s well-known sports journalists hosts his ‘Rawle Toney 3X3 Classic’, November 9-10.

With $300 000 up for grabs for the winner of the Round-Robin/Knockout tournament, Toney will launch the one-of-a-kind tournament today at one of the sponsors, FireSide and Grill, located on Garnett Street, from 13:00hrs.

The second-placed team will pocket $100 000 and the third-placed $50 000. The player deemed ‘Most Valuable’ (MVP) in the final will receive one basketball sneakers of his choice.
Ansa McAl, under its Mackeson brand will be the tournament’s main sponsor, and will be joined by Guyana Lottery Company’s Let’s Bet Sport, ‘STUFF’, Slingerz Family Entertainment, National Sports Commission (NSC) and Trophy Stall.

“I think when you look around, basketball is the only sport in Guyana that doesn’t offer anything exciting and engaging for its fans. There’s futsal and T20 – both shortened versions of the conventional football and cricket, but while 3X3 exists in basketball, locally it is not being utilised,” Toney said.

“3X3 is the ‘T20 cricket’ of basketball, meaning, it’s fast (only 10 minutes a game) and simpler rules, as compared to the usual format of the game. The last major tournament, held under the Mackeson brand, was hosted in 2013,” said Toney, who was once a stand-out basketball player.

Toney explained that after Mackeson stepped away from sponsoring 3X3 basketball, the format never found another corporate entity or brand to replace ‘Smooth Moves’, mostly because of the high standard set and players had grown accustomed to a quality tournament.

“It is my hope that this tournament will revive the 3X3 format, especially since FIBA had moved to regularise the sport, which sees it being used by the sport’s governing body globally to bring new fans to the sport,” the journalist added.

The tournament has received the blessings of officials of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) and will be played under FIBA 3X3 rules.
Registration, according to Toney, has already started and limited space is available. More details will be given at today’s launch.