The Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) in a memorandum issued to all member states and associations on Tuesday May 7th following a FIBA Americas Central Board meeting on Saturday May 4th stated that the 2013 CBC Seniors Championships will be postponed until June 2014.
The biennial tourney which was previously held in Nassau, Bahamas 2011 was initially slated to be hosted in the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago during the month of June. Excerpts from the issued letter stated that the CBC received a text message on Wednesday March 27, 2013, from the President of the Basketball Federation of Trinidad and Tobago which disclosed that their Government had reconsidered their federation’s request to host the event and declined.
Given the information received from the Trinidad and Tobago Federation, the CBC immediately engaged in attempts to secure a new host for the Championships. Assistance from the British Virgin Islands (BVI) government was sought in hosting the championships as the CBC was familiar and impressed with the overall organization of the previous CBC Senior Men Championship held in Tortola 2009.
CBC President Usie Richards along with another executive member approached the BVI Government seeking their support in becoming the new hosts. Despite their enthusiasm, the BVI government was unable to identify the required funding on such short notice. Initial discussions were also held with representatives of the Guyana Government which produced the same results.
Due to the lack of an alternative host, a decision was taken to hold the championships in June of 2014, prior to the 2014 Centro Basket Tournament.
In an invited comment General Secretary Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) Michael Burnett stated “This is a real setback for basketball in the whole as we would have made the best possible effort to win that elusive Championship.
I know that the players will certainly be disappointed but it also gives us the opportunity to be better prepared for the tournament and we have to look forward to next year”.
The Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championships or Caribebasket is a FIBA-sponsored basketball tournament where national teams from the Caribbean participate. These countries make up CBC. The top three or four teams typically earn berths to Centrobasket Championship where they compete for spots in the FIBA Americas Championship from which they can qualify for the FIBA World Championship or Olympics.
There are currently 24 Caribbean countries that usually compete in this event and the tournament typically is held every two years. Earlier in the month Trinidad and Tobago officially pulled out of hosting the event and CBC has yet to name an alternative venue.
The previous CBC Championships was held in Nassau, The Bahamas 2011. Guyana has never won the event, with a silver medal finish its best placing to date during the 1994 edition as the host nation.
