In what is seen as one of local basketball’s biggest tournaments since its inception in 2006 the Next Level Entertainment (NLE) nationwide basketball tournament will be, officially launched today.

Water Chris Hotel will play host from 1:00pm to the launching of the tournament which will feature 14 of the country’s top basketball clubs.

Seven clubs will represent Georgetown while six will come from Linden and one from the Ancient County of Berbice. And the battle ground will be the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall from March 1.

The participating teams are not known as yet  since according to the promoters, this is left to the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF).

Georgetown’s top club Courts Pacesetters are the defending champions after winning the last edition in 2007 while the Kashif and Shanghai Kings of Linden won the first staging in 2006. It is certain, however,  that Pacesetters will be in the tournament to defend their title but it’s not sure if the Kings will be involved since they were demoted to second division status by the LABA.

Nevertheless, the organizers said that the tournament is expected to be highly competitive since all of the teams are active.

Meanwhile, the event comes at a time when Guyana is bidding to host the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC)  Championship and the local players will all be aiming to impress the Guyanese public with their skills to make a bid for the national team.  But local fans more than ever are keen on seeing once again the intense rivalry between the sports two powerhouses, Linden and Georgetown.