THE popular Poonai Pharmacy of Rose Hall Town recently renewed its cricket sponsorship of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club Under -11 and 13 teams during a simple ceremony at the Area H Ground.
The presentation was done by Chief Executive Officer of the Pharmacy, Poonai Higroog to the club cricket manager, Robby Kissoonlall, in the presence of members of the team and
secretary of the club, Hilbert Foster.
The Poonai Pharmacy came on board as the official sponsor of the Under- 13 team in 2020 and later took on the Under- 11 team in 2023. The Under -13 team since then, has won the BCB title four times.
The team last Saturday defeated arch rivals Albion by 10 runs to lift their fourth title in six years. They defeated Albion twice, Rose Hall Canje and Port Mourant in the finals to become champions while the team were also runner-up twice.
Kissoonlall, in his capacity as cricket manager, hailed the support of the pharmacy as one of the main reasons for the success of the Under -13 team.
He also proudly announced that the Under -11 won the only tournament for that age group in 2023 when they defeated Albion in the final played at the Chesney ground. The team,
Kissoonlall stated has produced over 20 players for Berbice while several has gone on to play for Guyana including Raffel Mckemzie, Tameshwar Deochand, Trishna Hardat and Leon
Reddy.
Kissoonlall, noted that the two teams serve as the nursery to the other teams in the club and as such, special emphasis is placed on them.
Huge investment has been made in terms of gears and some special developmental projects at the Area H Ground. They include a special batting cage, bowling machine, batting mats,
twelve feet fence around the concrete pitch and the construction of several batting centres in the ground.
The club also invests heavily in the educational career of its junior players and assists as much as possible in providing them with personal gears, cycles, electronic tablets, uniforms and school materials.
Foster, the former three- term Berbice Cricket Board president expressed gratitude to Bhigroog for his sponsorship over the years and for supporting other programmes as well. He committed the two teams to upholding their high standards in the future.
The veteran cricket administrator also disclosed that management of the team has already started to prepare a team for the 2026 tournament and a captain would be named
shortly.
Captain of the current team, Jayden Ganpat informed the sponsor that the team under his leadership had undertaken over three dozen community related projects/programmes under the name of the sponsorship. They included food hampers for the less fortunate, honouring mothers and fathers, Republic Bank Summer Camp, school bags project, medical outreach, Christmas Village and distribution of toys.
Poonai Bhigroog, in a well-received speech, stated that he was very proud to be associated with the teams as they had represented his business brand with pride, passion and commitment.
The popular businessman urged them to be the best they can be on the cricket field but to also focus on their educational background. He also announced a financial incentive to the entire team for successfully defending their title.