ANSA McAl Trading Limited, behind the world’s most popular cognac, Hennessy, has pledged its support towards the Rawle Toney 3X3 Classic (Linden edition), which is set for April 23 in Richmond Hill.

Hennessy made a grand entrance towards its support of basketball in Guyana, when the company refurbished and beautified the storied Burnham Basketball Court in January.

Atina Samad, Hennessy, Moet and Wines Manager, also pointed out that the brand plans to “continue to refurbish courts throughout the communities and will continue to sponsor similar initiatives in terms of basketball.”

Hennessy was also one of the key sponsors for the February 19-20 Rawle Toney 3X3 at Burnham Court and according to Samad, Ansa McAl will continue to support basketball.

She added, “Hennessy recently signed on to basketball, specifically the NBA and one of the things they’re planning to do is to prove the sport aspect of basketball throughout the Caribbean and other countries.”

“We’ve recently sponsored the Rawle Toney 3X3 Classic and we will continue to sponsor and support the tournaments. One of our drivers is to align entertainment with sports and that’s one of our biggest takeaways this year,” Samad said.

Toney thanked Hennessy for their support, explaining that “Ansa McAl and Hennessy didn’t hesitate to offer support. And that says a lot about the belief in what I’m trying to achieve in Linden with my 3X3 event.”

Meanwhile, Toney said the event in Linden, which is set to take place at Kashif Muhammad’s residence, will feature Barbados recording artiste, ‘Mole de Chief’, whom he said will be visiting Guyana for the first time to perform.

“The idea is to fuse entertainment and basketball and I think for the first time, we’ll see that happening in Guyana. 3X3 Basketball is the only sport that can give you non-stop music throughout the night while enjoying the game. Afterward, we’ll have a nice concert,” Toney said.

Eight teams will compete for $100 000 and other prizes. Each team will also receive an appearance fee of $25 000. Toney said, “The idea is to set a precedent in Basketball, where similarly to what is done in the Kashif and Shanghai Football tournament, teams are given a fee to participate. It might seem farfetched to some, but you have to respect the players; they’re the commodity.”

Jump-ball time is 18:00hrs, with live entertainment right after the basketball aspect of the event.