BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbadian officials said they will miss the Caribbean Championships for the first time this year.
Derrick Garrett, president of the Barbados Amateur Basketball Association, said they were finding it difficult to raise US $45,000 to send both national teams to the Championships to be staged in the Bahamas from July 25 to August 5.
“At this present moment, based on our current finances, we wouldn’t be able to do so,” he told the Weekend Nation newspaper here.
“We’re hoping that we can gain both the assistance of the Barbados Olympic Association and the National Sports Council plus we will embark on fund-raising activities to try to cover the cost.
“In the absence of not raising the funds, then the likelihood exists that we will not be able to go.”
Barbados won the men’s championship in 1994 and 2000, but have struggled since finishing second in the 2004 tournament in Cuba.
At the same time, Guyana, whose last appearance was four years ago in Puerto Rico, have confirmed their participation.
David Patterson, president of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation, said that the men’s team will be attending, but fund-raising efforts to send the women’s team had proved futile.
“It was a difficult decision not to send both teams,” he said. “A proposal from the Women Basketball Association to secure funding for females out of the United States was unsuccessful.”
Guyana’s men finished eighth in their previous appearance at the Championships.
