The Guyana men’s senior basketball team will be the highest ranked unit participating in the opening round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup – Americas Pre-Qualifier in El Salvador following the latest FIBA world rankings.
According to a release from the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF),
among the four teams that will compete in the first qualifying stage scheduled for April, the Guyanese are ranked 100.
The other three nations, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and El Salvador, are ranked 106, 116 and 133 respectively.’
Guyana’s highest ever ranking of 98 was attained in November 2020.
“The Guyana Men’s National Team (GMNT) has been confirmed as one of the four National Basketball Federations that will be competing in the first round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup – Americas Pre- Qualifier in the city of San Salvador, El Salvador. The competition dates has also been confirmed as 14-18 April 2021 which is one week later that previously communicated,” stated the release from the GABF.
“The competition schedule has been adjusted to allow for the completion of the FIBA Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA) to allow National Federations to field their best teams to participate in the first round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup – Americas Pre-Qualifier”, the release added.
The first round of qualifiers will be conducted utilizing a group format with the top three finishers progressing to the second round of qualifiers set for July 2021.
Guyana is expected to arrive in the Central American nation on April 12th and depart seven days later.
Junior Hercules is the head-coach while veteran sport administrator Alex Graham is the manager.
“FIBA Americas Regional Office has provided the Guyana Basketball Federation (GABF) a comprehensive package outlining the requirements and deadlines for completing and uploading the required documents into the competition portal including the Eligibility of Players, Preliminary Delegation List (maximum of 24), Team Doctor, Covid-19 Compliance Team Official, Pre-Travel PCR Test Results and Uniform Artwork to name a few,” stated the release from the GABF.
“FIBA has also communicated that at FIBA’s discretion, doping checks can be performed at any of the venues of the event, whether at competition venue, training venues or hotel, during competition time and the GMNT must comply with any anti-doping officer according to Article 2 of the FIBA Internal Regulations, Book 4 that oversee Anti-Doping Rule Violations. All GMNT players are mandated to complete the WADA Whereabouts form as mandated by the GABF and the Guyana Olympic Association – National Anti-Doping Organization (GOA / NADO)”, the release added.
