The Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF), the local governing body of the discipline, has officially withdrawn from the International Federation of Association Basketball (FIBA) U17 Skills Challenge-Americas Qualifier, due to the upsurge in local Covid-19 related cases.
This was stated in a GABF official correspondence to the FIBA Americas Events Department. According to the letter, “The Guyana Basketball Federation (GABF) regrettably withdraws from the FIBA U17 Skills Challenge – Americas Qualifier due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in the city of Georgetown. The only FIBA certified basketball facility, the Cliff Anderson Shorts Hall has been converted to a quarantine shelter for COVID-19 patients until the Georgetown Infectious Disease Hospital renovation construction is complete.”
The letter further said, “Further to this matter, the Government of Guyana’s (GoG), Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Sports did not approve the restart of sports in Guyana. We are working closely with the GoG, Ministry of Public Health and the Guyana Olympic Association with guidance from PAHO/WHO on a path to restart sports in Guyana. We would like to thank you for the FIBA U17 Skills Challenge – Americas Qualifier invitation to this event and will keep you updated as to when the sports restrictions are lifted in Guyana.”
The GABF had initially confirmed their participation in the FIBA U17 Skills Challenge, following the cancellation of the 2020 U17 World Cup by the world governing body due to the ongoing pandemic. The FIBA U17 Skills Challenge is slated to commence from the date of August 17th and will feature Boys and Girls divisions respectively. It is also slated to be broadcast on the entity’s digital platform of YouTube.
National coaches Junior Hercules and Lugard Mohan were identified by the GABF as the primary point of contact for the recruitment and execution of the local qualifier. The GABF were also slated to select five boys and five girls born on and after January 1st, 2003 to represent Guyana in the regional qualifier.
Meanwhile Hercules in a brief comment said, “Guyana Basketball Federation Executive held an emergency meeting last evening to discuss the logistical execution of FIBA U17 Skill Challenge scheduled to be conducted in August. A unanimous decision was made to withdraw from international participation. Guyana originally signaled participation for both Boys & Girls. GABF had originally accepted the invitation with the premise of being able to access an indoor facility to execute the activity (Cliff Anderson Sports Hall).”
According to Hercules, who also holds the portfolio of GABF National Coordinator, the world governing body FIBA has stringent safety measures and guidelines for the staging of the discipline during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, and that the inability to access the Guyana’s lone certified Basketball facility, the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, will certainly hinder the GABF’s ability to administer those policies.
He added, “GABF was unable to access or more importantly be provided with any confirmation regarding the use of the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH). The use of CASH would have allowed the GABF to provide COVID-19 crowd control mechanisms thereby adhering to social distancing and hand washing facilities. FIBA also had some specific guidelines in the skill challenge manual and demanded certain specifications which would have proven close to impossible to execute outdoor given COVID-19 guidelines.”
Hercules further said, “While it is quite unfortunate that Guyana will not be able to participate in this year’s U17 Skill Challenge, GABF believes the adherence to the safety measure provided by the Ministry of Health and value for life supersedes any activity at this point.”
