Guyana’s senior men and women’s teams have been drawn in groups A and B respectively for the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Caribbean Cup, scheduled for June 25th-July 1st in Suriname.
The men’s tournament commences June 22nd and concludes July 1st while the women’s competition runs from June 15-22..
Group A (men) consists of Guyana, Grenada, St. Lucia, the host nation and St. Vincent and the Grenadines while Group B consists of Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Bermuda, Haiti and Montserrat.
Group B (women) will see Guyana, Barbados, Dominican Republic and the host nation with Group A comprising The Bahamas, Cuba and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Andrew Hercules, National Basketball Coordinator during a brief interview said, “I think our strategy is largely to recruit overseas-based players and we hope to use Mecca, which now be in April, as a measuring stick for the local players. We hope to recruit semi-pro players with Guyanese origin for whom in the past would have cited late notice from the GABF for their inability to travel.”
He added, “We are expected to advance to the second stage, we know that Grenada has a good programme. However, we are much more active as a basketball federation and we expect to have experience on our hand. We are hopeful that the experience will allow us to advance out of the group.”
“I think we have about a 60 percent chance of winning the tournament [Men] if we have a good composition of overseas and local players in addition to adequate preparation time which would allow for chemistry and strategies,” he added.
Asked about the chances of the women’s team, Hercules said “With regards to the women, we have a very young programme and we would be largely recruiting overseas players. If we can achieve a 65-35 ratio of foreign to local players, we have a very good chance. Once we are able to achieve that ratio, we fancy out chances of advancing out of the preliminary round.”
