By Rawle Toney
Guyana’s male basketball team which will be participating in the second leg of this year’s Inter-Guiana Games in French Guiana has been selected and, according to the representatives on the local planning committee, they are confident of retaining the title they won in 2007.
The selected players are Jermain Slater, Marlon Chesney, Akeem Kanhai, Orin Rose, John Fraser, Michael Thompson, Richard Mohandatt, Tyrone Hamid, Shellroy Thomas, Yannick Dundas, Keno George, and Kevin Jordan.
The two reserves named are Marlon Anderson and Stravin Etienne.
Chris Bowman, who will perform the duties of coach along with Julian Hunte, said that unlike the team from last year, this unit was not as deep but added that they were in the process of building a team that should last for almost two years.
This, he said, was so because the average age of the players on the team is 18, and with the games being under-20, it would do well for Guyana.
Five players from last year’s victorious team have made their way back onto this year’s squad in Kanhai, Rose, Fraser, Slater and Thomas.
All the players over the past year have been very impressive in their respective clubs, and have been doing very well among the more senior players said Bowman.
He was keen to highlight a few players who have been creating a stir in their respective leagues and singled out Kanhai who is only 17-years-old and plays for the Amelia’s Ward Jets in Linden.
According to Bowman Kanhai was one of the players who have shown vast improvement over the past year.
He was the MVP in the Victory Valley Royals Inter-Secondary School tournament this year where his school, Mackenzie High, triumphed over the Linden Technical Institute.
He has scored as much as 50 points in one game and his dominance continued during the incomplete Linden Amateur Basketball Associa-tion (LABA) first Division tournament.
A captain of the team is yet to be named, but Bowman mentioned that Jermain Slater, who plays for the Ravens Basketball Club is likely to lead the team in French Guiana since he was showing great leadership ability and was one of the more talented players on the team.
Meanwhile, coach of the female team Abdullah `Zico’ Hamid says that serious work needs to be done to get the female team up to a competitive level.
According to Hamid, the problem lies in the lack of interest from females in the sport over the years and he hinted that some serious developmental work should be done, or they will only be making up numbers at the championships.
He suggested that the Ministry of Sport along with the Ministry of Education should pay more emphasis on female participation in the sport.
Hamid, who is being assisted by former national player Mark Agard, said the players were improving steadily.
The players will resume training this weekend at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and the males will be in action every weekend playing against various teams in and around Georgetown before the November 12-16 event.
