By Rawle Toney
The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) under their Cellink brand on Saturday handed over $2.5m to the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation for the 20th staging of the annual football extravaganza which is set to kick off on Sunday at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence.
At a simple ceremony held at the company’s head office on Brickdam, GT&T’s Marketing Officer, Abena Fung, said that her company was pleased to be associated with the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation over the past eight years.
“Over the years GT&T has given continued support to what is probably the single largest sporting event in Guyana.
This year’s tournament gives a clean form of sporting entertainment to the Guyanese society and the opportunity for all local footballers to showcase their talent. We continue to see an improvement of the standard of this tournament over the years with the finals being played at the National Stadium,” said Fung.
Brazilian football great `King Pele’ will be the guest of honour at this year’s opening ceremony and Fung noted that GT&T as a company was more than happy to be part of that historic occasion in Guyana.
“With the tournament growing and continuing to show its high calibre, it is only fitting that GT&T continue to support and urge the organisers to strive for excellence and we hope they have a successful tournament,” Fung added.
Aubrey `Shanghai’ Major, Co-Director of the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation, expressed his delight in having GT&T onboard this year; stating that with the added expense of bringing the Brazilian great to Guyana, the telephone’s company’s sponsorship will go a long way.
“The Kashif and Shanghai Organisation want to say how pleased we are to be associated with GT&T for the 8th year. We want to thank this company for their venture into this year’s tournament especially when much funding is needed at this time because as we all know that the greatest footballer of all time will be coming to Guyana,” Major said.