Caribbean Airlines yesterday made a donation of four airline tickets to the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) to help its players participate in an upcoming training camp in Trinidad and Tobago.
Five players, Albert La Rose, Dane Parks, Richard Staglon, Claudius Butts and Theodore Henry, have been chosen to undergo training with a view to being selected on the West Indies Rugby Union (WIRU) side which will compete at the International Rugby Board (IRB) World Sevens tournament in San Diego, USA in February next year.
Twenty one players were shortlisted following the completion of the annual North America and West Indian Rugby Association (NA-WIRA) Sevens championships which ended in The Bahamas on Sunday.
President of the West Indies Rugby Union (WIRU) Kit Nascimento said Caribbean Airlines would provide a free ticket to one player and substantially discounted tickets to three other players.
Making the presentation was Caribbean Airlines’ Carlton Dafour, who congratulated the Guyana Sevens team on its achievement of winning back-to-back NAWIRA Sevens titles, adding that he agreed with Kit Nascimento that the Guyana and Jamaica rugby teams were a cut above the other teams in the Caribbean.
The challenge, said Dafour, was now to focus on the other teams outside of the Caribbean.
Nascimento said it was hoped that the West Indies team when selected would tour Fiji once adequate sponsorship was received but admitted that at the moment hopes of a Fiji tour were ‘slim.’
He said he hoped that the government would take another look at the financial support given to rugby adding that it was sad that the country was not in a position to send a team to this week-end’s Carib international invitational Sevens tournament in Trinidad.
He pointed out that Guyana reached the semi-finals at last year’s tournament, adding that it was not unlikely that a Guyana team could have been in the final against the West Indies Combined team.
Meanwhile, president of the GRFU, Noel Adonis said yesterday how proud the GRFU was of the accomplishment of the Sevens team.
Adonis also disclosed that Kevin Mc Kenzie has announced his availability for next year’s IRB sevens tournament.
Nascimento revealed that Mc Kenzie was on the bench for Luester `A’ a professional rugby team in Ireland.
Coach of the Guyana men’s team Sherlock Sam, said the team played “with a lot of pride and heart,” while manager Evanson Jacobs gave a recap of the matches the team played giving details of who scored tries and conversions.
Adonis said that though they had not received funding from government to send the team to The Bahamas the Director of Sport had promised to contribute the sum of $150,000 to the GRFU.
