By Rawle Toney

President of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federa-tion (GABF) retired Col. Godwin McPherson yesterday said he was aware that there was no host as yet for the bi-annual Caricom basketball championships but was tight-lipped about whether Guyana would be submitting an official bid.

Following the annual general meeting of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) it was disclosed that  the  CBC was still seeking bids from  member federations to host the senior male and female Caribbean championships.

According to the minutes of the meeting, president of the CBC, Usie Richards, of the US Virgin Islands,  through an official memorandum sent out on October 27 last year, had requested the submission of bids in writing.

It was also stated that any request should be sent to the Secretary General for consideration at the CBC AGM in 2009.

The AGM has already been completed.

According to the minutes, the Netherlands Antilles Federation had indicated by way  of letter, that they would be willing to host this tournament in St. Maarten.

However, the bid was withdrawn on  February 4,  a few days before the AGM, after a meeting of all affiliates of the Netherlands Federa-tion.

If the CBC fails to have a host for the 2009 tournament, they will have to use the results of the last CBC championship which also serves as a qualifying tournament for the Centro Basket tournament in 2010.

McPherson according to the February 5 edition of Kaieteur News, had stated that Guyana would not participate if the games were to be held in any US territory.

When quizzed by this newspaper, the longstanding GABF president stood firm on the decision.

Mc Pherson said this was to avoid having the local players face the possibility of having their visa applications turned down by the US Embassy and also to save his federation from having to deal with the usually distraught players.

In 2007, when the championships was held in Puerto Rico, a group of local players were denied visas which resulted in Guyana being represented by an overseas-based Guyanese team.

That team finished in a disappointing eighth place.

Guyana’s first participation in the CBC tournament in 1981 saw them finishing third in the men’s category.

In 1994, the men’s team finished second and the women’s team fifth.

The women’s team of 1996 claimed championship honours when the games were held in Trinidad and Tobago while the men’s team finished a creditable third.

Guyana then took four years off from competition but returned in 2000 in Barbados, only producing a male team which finished third.

Meanwhile, according to the meeting, CBC executives are proposing to institute a programme for the region to increase the pool of certified FIBA referees, which they stated, have been declining drastically.

The executives also agreed on a new initiative to have a zone instructor, who will travel to a particular member country and conduct a week-long training session for a group of approximately 25 participants between the ages of 25 and 35 to prepare them properly for the FIBA Certification.

The zone instructor will then make a recommendation to the federation at the conclusion of the programme advising which three or four candidates are likely to pass the examination and are sufficiently prepared in all aspects.

The countries listed to benefit from this initiative are Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, Antigua/Barbuda, BVI, USVI, and St. Maarten.

McPherson applauded this venture stating that this was certainly most welcome in Guyana where there is only one FIBA certified referee, Sherwin Henry of Linden, who received his license in 2007 and was recertified in 2008.