The Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) has released a provisional list of players for national team training for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Pre-Qualifiers next February.
The 13-member provisional roster is headed by CBC winning captain Stanton Rose and features both local and overseas based players in Travis Belgrave, Travis Burnett, Akeem Crandon, Delroy James, Anthony Moe, Nikkoloi Smith, Yannick Tappin, Timothy Thompson, Ray Victor, Shaine Webster, Terron Welch and Kevon Wiggins.
The prestigious qualifiers are scheduled for February 17th-21st in the Central American nation of El Salvador. GABF president Mike Singh, during brief remarks yesterday, said that he was satisfied with the quality of the provisional list, adding that the availability of the foreign-based players is a major and positive development for the team.
He revealed that several other local
players will also be assessed by the management team before the final selection of the squad.
“This is the main provisional list and I think it’s a quality list. Even though no local competitions are ongoing, the overseas based players are in the gym and are playing some level of competitive basketball. They are still a few players that we have to look at locally, the main thing though is that the overseas players have signalled their intention and priority will be given to them based on their fitness and the fact that they are playing,” said Singh, who added that the final roster, which will be selected at the end of the training period, will comprise 12 members.
“We are looking at a 12-member squad for the tournament. Semi-pro or professional players don’t normally have to be in camp for excessive periods. They communicate with the management team and often come into the squad for final preparation,” he said.
Singh disclosed that the team will be led once again by CBC winning coach Junior Hercules with Alex Graham as the manager. He noted that an assistant coach will be selected from the local pool of coaches as an avenue to provide international experience.
“[Junior] Hercules will continue as the head-coach and Alex Graham continues as the manager. We will select a local assistant coach to give them some international experience. One of the new main criteria is that a trained doctor must accompany the team apart from the physiotherapist.”
