Co-coordinator of the just concluded Guyana Cup III softball cricket tournament Ricky Deonarine yesterday expressed satisfaction with the staging of the tournament which he said has grown from year to year and calling this year’s tournament a success.
This year’s tournament which was held from November 8-10 was easily the largest in the three year history of the competition which attracts teams from North America.
The annual tournament has been organized by the Guyana Floodlight Softball Cricket Association of which Deonarine is a vice president.
“This year has seen the most participation in terms of teams in the history of the tournament,” Deonarine told Stabroek Sport yesterday in an exclusive interview.
“This year saw some 26 teams participating. Last year there were 24 teams most from North America. There were 10 teams from North America this year… last year eight teams came from North America and in the first year of the tournament there were 16 teams with six from North America,” Deonarine said.
The rivalry between the Guyana softball teams and the teams from North America is what makes the Guyana Cup tournament so exciting especially since the North American teams are made up largely of Guyanese expatriates.
In 2011 the Cotton Tree Wild Oats team won the Open 20/20 tournament while last year the New York Softball Cricket League took top honours in the same category. This year, however, Ramesh Sunich’s Trophy Stall team ran out winners in that division.
Deonarine said it was safe to say that the tournament is growing every year and that the standard of the competition is also on the up and up.
“You can safely say that the tournament is growing every year. Also the level of play was tremendous in all three years of the Guyana Cup softball tournament.
“This year especially, the level of play in the tournament was very high,” he added.
At the opening ceremony last Thursday Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport Dr. Frank Anthony stated that plans are on stream to hold the finals of the Guyana Cup tournament under lights at the National Stadium at Providence and Deonarine admitted yesterday that moving the finals to the national stadium was a distinct possibility although he stopped short of saying if that plan would materialize for the Guyana Cup IV tournament next year.
He did say however that the organizers were looking at the possibility of increasing the prize money.
Although he said that he was satisfied with the actual tournament Deonarine said he was a little bit disappointed with the crowd response to the tournament.
“The crowd support for all the days was good. I expected better for the final which was to some extent satisfactory but we expected more.
“Hopefully next year we can increase the prize money and make it more attractive for teams, more giveaways, more incentives for people to come to the ground,” he declared.
For the final, Bourda had a more festive appearance and there were lots of giveaways.
“There were lots of giveaways. Bel Air Rubis gave out air fresheners, key chains, bags etc., while Mike’s Pharmacy, Survival Supermarket and Bargains Supermarket of Cummings Lodge gave away lots of hampers, gift hampers and Fly Jamaica gave a free ticket in a draw for a lucky ticket holder to anywhere in the world.
Deonarine said the tournament would not have been possible without the sponsors and he said he wished to thank the sponsors which included Top Brandz Distributors, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, Trophy Stall, Survival Supermarket, Mike’s Pharmacy, Nauth’s Motor Spares, Rohan Auto Spares, Clear Waters, Steve’s Jewellery, Guyana Beverage Company, Rubis (Bel Air), Metro Office and Computer Supplies and Motor Trend for continuing to support the tournament.
In what is probably the most lucrative softball tourney Trophy Stall received a trophy and $800,000 for winning the Open division while runners up Wolf’s Warriors received $200,000 and a trophy.
In the Masters category New York Better Hope carted off $600,000 and a massive trophy while runners up Industry Super Kings won $150,000 and a trophy.
Deonarine said he was heartened by the performances of a number of players in the tournament including Wolf Warriors Amit Jairam, Gordon of the New York Better Hope team and Fazal Rafiek.
Rafiek was named the tournament’s MVP and received a gold bracelet from Steve’s Jewellery while Surujpaul Deosarran was named Man-of-the-Match in the Open final.
Jagdesh Persaud of Industry Super Kings copped a gold bracelet for being the MVP of the Masters segment.
