The True Champions Volleyball Tournament which will serve off on July 17 at 10 am at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and end September 18 was officially launched yesterday in the Boardroom of Guyoil Company, Kitty, by the official sponsor of the tournament, Tradewind Tankers.
At the launching of the Castrol Strikers and Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF) organised tournament, Captain Antonio Rodriguez, who represented the company, handed over a cheque for $500,000 to Castrol Striker’s Dexter Hoppie in the presence of GVF President Lenox Shuffler, Managing Director of Guyoil Badri Persaud and other company executives.
Rodriguez speaking at the occasion said that they’ve been involved in business in this country for the past 34 years operating as the designated shipping agent for petroleum and oil and felt that it was time that they got into the other areas of social responsibility that could help develop the country.
Rodriguez said that he was aware that cricket is the No. I sport played in Guyana, but left it up to the managing director to decide on which sport it was best to offer their sponsorship and he chose volleyball and the rest is history. He promised that the current sponsorship is not a one-off offer, but will continue for many years to come.
Persaud in his remarks spoke of the 34-year relationship with Tradewind Tankers and noted that discussions relating to the hosting of the tournament were first held approximately two months ago when Rodriguez expressed an interest.
Shuffler said that he was happy that Castrol was partnering with the GVF to push the game back to where it was some years ago.
He said he expected the tournament to be well organised and he thanked the sponsor who was no stranger to volleyball, having assisted the team some years ago.
The tournament has a unique format with games being played on two weekends in each month from July to September. It begins at Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and moves to Goed Fortuin for the second weekend on July 24. It will then go to Berbice on August 14 and 28 and back to the Sports Hall on September 11 and 18 for the third and final month.
The multi-format tournament will see games contested in the twos, fours and regular six-man format, but teams will need a minimum of seven players to participate.
Teams will be awarded in each month of the competition. In the first two months the first and second place winners will receive $20,000 and $10,000 respectively, while in the third month the overall champion will receive $80,000. Second and third place winners will receive $40,000 and $20,000 respectively.