The games are more than a week away but the bragging has already begun!
“I think Georgetown is the superior association in terms of strength but that is why you need rivalries such as these because rivalries like these give us the opportunity to know for sure.”
Those were the sentiments of President of the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA), Chris Bowman on Wednesday at the launch of the upcoming inter – association basketball tournament.
The tournament is expected to be a heated contest between the GABA and the Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) when it gets on the way at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on March 17.
“I am sure Colin Aaron will want to say the same thing that they are the superior team,” Bowman said.
However, Aaron’s response was that Linden has a lot of talented players who will be vying for selection to Guyana’s national team.
The event will be staged by the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) in collaboration with Wildfire Productions. The best players from Linden will take on the best players from Georgetown.
“We have a lot of talented players in Linden and we expect to showcase them and vie for a place to represent Guyana. I am sure we will be able to put together a very strong team,” Aaron, said. So who will walk away with the bragging rights for a year? Will it be Georgetown’s Courts or Linden? “We can anticipate a very exciting series,” Bowman said, adding that recently concluded nation – wide final between Georgetown’s Pacesetters and Linden’s Kings was only the tip of the iceberg.
The NLE (Next Level Entertainment) tournament was only the tip of the iceberg that don’t give you no sense of how powerful this rivalry can be,” an enthusiastic Bowman continued.
Georgetown’s Courts Pacesetters came out on top of the game against Linden’s Kings and according to Aaron the real Linden vs Georgetown basketball tournament will produce different results. “Now we will have the official Linden vs Georgetown beginning on the 17th, the rivalry between Georgetown and Linden has always been an exciting one,” Aaron said, alluding to the recently concluded NLE competition.
Both Aaron and Bowman indicated their commitment to the development of the sport and a working relationship to ensure that Guyana’s senior male team returns to the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championships in August.
Guyana has already registered for the CBC battle that will be staged in Puerto Rico with the male championships being held from August 6 – 10 and the female contest from the 11 – 14; Guyana has registered both a male and female team.
The inter – association tournament is an effort to raise funds for the re – appearance of the country’s two national teams at the CBC event after some six years. The event is begging for a national effort.
President of the GABF, Godwin McPherson, said that he was ecstatic about the fact that the GABA and the LABA have united in the interest of local basketball. He said the gesture spoke well for the future of the sport. “I am very excited and happy to be here, basketball is maturing, we had a haemorrhage but the haemorrhage seems to have healed, we are moving forward,” McPherson said.
The GABF boss made it clear that the federation will ensure that the two teams get to Puerto Rico this year after valiant efforts in the past fell short.
“We are going to Puerto Rico, we have not been in the CBC championships for the past six years despite some valiant efforts made,” he observed while stating his gratitude for the assistance of Wildfire Productions.”I would like to thank Wildfire Productions at this stage even though the pie has not yet been delivered but we have every confidence that they will deliver the pie,” he charged the Jonathan Beepat-headed company.
McPherson indicated that the two associations will showcase the best basketball players in the country. The event continues on the 18th in Linden and the 24th at the Sports Hall.
The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) is the primary sponsor of the GABF/Wildfire Productions inter – association basketball tournament.
