GUYANA’S National Basketball team will certainly have its strength boosted with the addition of National player, Stanton Rose, as the players prepare for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Pre-Qualifiers which is scheduled for April 7-11 in El Salvador.
The local team were granted approval to commenced training in January and are just about a month into preparation for the event. Guyana are currently the leading basketball team in the Caribbean following their successful triumph at the biennial Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Tournament in 2018.
Head coach of the Men’s National Team, Junior Hercules, has welcomed the addition of Rose, who was instrumental in leading the team to glory in one of the Federation’s greatest year of achievements.

He said, “Stanton’s arrival will significantly boost our training preparation since most of what we hope to do at the level of our offencee is the responsibility for guards, more specifically, our point guard. He plays a significant role in the execution of that offence.
“So, it also would allow for other players in the trials to operate in their natural domain, thereby giving them a better option or a better shot at being effective in their natural position. So yes, his arrival will definitely help us significantly.”
When questioned about the team’s preparation given that the time frame has not been favourable, the coach disclosed: “So far preparation is progressing fairly okay. We still need to increase our intensity, something for which is an addition of new players, and also an increase of time, in terms of our available time on the court.

“I’m happy to say we haven’t had any injuries since we’ve had a long layoff close to a year in terms of preparation. So, I was very keen in not pushing players, beyond the limit and risk an injury, at this early stage in the preparation.
“So, I would say we’re progressing fairly okay but there’s a lot more work to be done.”
The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Pre-Qualifiers would have already been contested with the date originally planned for February 17-21, but Patrick Haynes, Secretary of the Central America and Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CONCENCABA) confirmed the change in date in January.
Meanwhile, the 13-player shortlist includes Delroy James, Stanton Rose, Kevon Wiggins, Anthony Moe, Ray Victor, Shaine Webster, Timothy Thompson, Akeem Crandon, Travis Belgrave, Nikkoloi Smith, Travis Burnett, Yannick Tappin and Terron Welch.
These players were able to earn a call-up to the squad due to their past performances since no basketball was played in 2020 when the pandemic arose.