The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) yesterday made a sizeable donation to the West Indies Rugby Union (WIRU) to jump start preparation for the 2008 Rugby World Series in San Diego, California USA.
A combined West Indies Rugby team will compete in the tournament which starts on February 7 and the donation by GT&T of US$5000 will help the team to be better prepared for the tournament.
GT&T, like good corporate citizens, are the first first local and fifth regional company to sponsor the WIRU Sevens team.
President of WIRU, Kit Nascimento, was elated with the donation and the
interest of GT&T towards the progress of the sport. He said the donation would enable the team to accomplish much more in terms of preparation for San Diego.
“I am very proud of the fact that GT&T has decided to come on board and it is evident that they are taking the responsibility of developing the community in which they function since there is not much commercial return that they can draw from this venture any time in the near future,” Nascimento said.
He added that although WIRU had been in operation for well over 15 years, the 13-nation union had only been participating in international competition from 2000 following approval from the International Rugby Board (IRB) to compete in some international tournaments.
Nascimento pointed out that a WIRU team reached the finals of the 2001 Hong Kong Sevens championships and also contested the semi-finals of the plate championships at the 2004 World Rugby Sevens championships held in Argentina and Chile.
He said that the team’s toughest competition however was the Rugby Sevens World Series held annually in San Diego, California USA.
He said that though the WIRU had proved itself competent enough to be invited for the past two years the team was unable to gain any wins against some of the world’s best teams including world champions Fiji, New Zealand, England and Australia.
Nascimento said that although the competition level was extremely high, the regional side had demonstrated the potential to compete on the world stage pointing out that Guyana’s Claudius Butts was fortunate enough to score a try against Fiji.
Nascimento also said that in order for WIRU to take the team to the next level, they needed to acquire close to US$30,000, which would be just enough to help the team offset its preparation expenses.
Meanwhile five Guyanese players Claudius Butts, Theodore Henry , Dane Parks Richard Staglon and Albert La Rose, will depart tomorrow to undergo a trial for the West Indian Rugby Team that will participate in next year’s Sevens World series.
The final 12-member team will be encamped in Barbados in January for the tournament which will be held in February.
