… Teams depart today for Miami
THE National Sports Commission (NSC) yesterday supported the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) with $875 000 towards sending a male and female team to represent Guyana at the FIBA AmeriCup 3X3 tournament.
The two teams departed Guyana today for the tournament in Miami, Florida, which runs from November 12 to 14.
Set for Bayfront Park, Guyana’s male team are drawn in Group C of the qualifying round alongside St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago, while the women’s side will have to face Guatemala, Jamaica, as well as Trinidad and Tobago.
According to Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle, NSC is committed to “raising the attitude, altitude and aptitude of sports in Guyana”.
Ninvalle reasoned that the support is in keeping with the NSC, Ministry of Sport and the Government of Guyana’s mandate to ensure that national teams and national federations are assisted in their quests to compete both locally and internationally.
“Over the last six months, we’ve extended assistance to several sport disciplines. It is the belief of the Government of Guyana that we need to keep injecting this sort of support and that is what we will be doing; even though sometimes, coming down to this part of the year, finances are not so readily available, we thought it’s appropriate to dig deep in order to help the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation,” Ninvalle said.
Basketball is listed as one of the ‘core sports’ identified by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.
“We expect them to do well and we hope that come next year, we can assist in a much more robust way,” the Director of Sport added.
Michael Singh, president of the GABF, lauded the NSC for its continued support, while reminding of its tangible assistance in April when Guyana competed at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Pre-Qualifiers in El Salvador.
“These two players over a period of time have been assisting basketball tremendously at various levels. It basically shows the level of financial injection the government is capable of doing,” Singh said.
Guyana’s male team will come from Ryan Stephney, Tyron Hamid, Travis Burnett, and Timothy Thompson.
Spain-based professional Joy Adams will lead Jada Mohan, Kesann Charles and Tamara Hunter into action.
The men’s team will bounce into action on Saturday against Trinidad and Tobago from 11:25hrs, followed by St Lucia at 12:15hrs.
If successful, Guyana will then move on to face Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic in the tournament’s main draw.
Meanwhile, the women’s team will play on tomorrow; first against Trinidad and Tobago at 10:15hrs, followed by Jamaica at 11:40grs and Guatemala at 13:05hrs.
The Guyanese women will be hoping to join Brazil and Dominican Republic in Group D of the main draw.
