Ansa Mc Al, through its Stag Beer brand, and Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) have joined forces once again to co-sponsor the Guyana Floodlights Softball Cricket Association’s (GFSCA) nationwide floodlight softball competition.
The competition was launched yesterday at the Georgetown cricket Club (GCC) ground and will be played in three categories: Male Open, Female Open and Male Over-40.
The action gets underway on January 23.
At yesterday’s event, vice president of GCC and Marketing Manager of the GCB, Ramsay Ali, said the tournament will also be held at the GCC ground since the executives of the club are looking to garner funds to carry out infrastructural works this year.
“We at GCC are looking at ways in which we can garner funds to achieve the goals we have with regards to infrastructure at this club, with one of our main concerns being the installation of lights for the venue, which can facilitate the perfect hosting of night matches,” Ali said.
Ansa Mc Al’s Stag Beer brand manager, John Maikoo, affirmed that his company was pleased to be associated with the two entities for the tournament, which has the potential of turning into an annual event.
According to organizers, the tournament will be played on a round robin basis with all the category winners receiving $50,000 and a trophy. The runners-up will receive $25,000 and a trophy and the player of the tournament and player of the final will pocket $5,000 and a trophy.
The tournament will be put on hold for a number of weeks to accommodate the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) nationwide 10/10 tournament, which was launched last evening.
The date for the final of the GFSCA tournament is May 29.
Further, the Male Open will do battle for over 15 overs, the females 10 overs and the Male Over-40, 25 overs. At the end of the tournament, players will be selected to play for their counties in the upcoming Mike’s Pharmacy Inter-county softball tournament scheduled for June.
Also, the four semifinalists in the Male Open category and the finalists from the Male Over-40 category will participate in this year’s Guyana Cup which is billed from October 28-30. Teams from South Florida, Orlando, New York, Connecticut, Georgia, Ocala, Maryland and Toronto are expected to participate in that tournament.
The women will also have a chance to play in a separate tournament alongside their male counterparts in the Guyana Cup.
The organisers will also be inviting umpires, team captains and representatives to a meeting at the GCC ground on Tuesday afternoon from 17:30 hours to outline plans for the tournament.
Entrance fee for the male teams is $5,000 while the females are required to pay $2,000. The organisers are also asking all interested teams to make contact with the GFSCA’s organizer Wayne Jones on telephone numbers 650-1790 and 225-0994.
