Former president of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) Nigel Hinds is of the opinion that Jamaica should not have been included in the upcoming FIBA Pre Qualifiers in El Salvador which get underway next week.
According to a recent press release announced by FIBA, the Jamaicans were a late addition.
“The inclusion of Jamaica in the El Salvador hosted 2021 Americas Pre-Qualifiers group is without any justifiable basis that I can unearth,” Hinds, a distinguished academic who also represented Guyana at two sports disciplines, said in an invited comment.
“No plausible explanation has been provided by FIBA in their April 3, 2021 press release, which stated that `over the last couple of days, we’ve received requests from the sub-zone, requesting to be allowed to participate in the Central America and Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CONCENCABA) Pre-Qualifier… we have concluded that Jamaica’s request has merit for being in compliance with FIBA registration procedures’”, Hinds added.
“Jamaica was assessed by FIBA to be in compliance with the deadline requirements, even though the initial FIBA competition fixture with team playing dates were set before the inclusion of Jamaica,” Hinds a Certified Public Accountant added.
Hinds, who represented Guyana at basketball, said Jamaica’s inclusion was a bit unfair to the other teams.
“Jamaica is now the highest ranked team in the group and their inclusion is unfair to initial grouping of Guyana, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Costa Rica.
It is likely that Jamaica will be among the two teams to qualify from the group,” he said.
Hinds also took issue with the late registration process.
“The late registration deadline is a fungible deadline that can be changed at FIBA’s discretion. The fact that fixtures were set before Jamaica was added is a clear indicator of discretionary action by FIBA to
change the number of countries participating and it was done outside of any known precedence, within two weeks of the commencement date of the Pre-Qualifiers.
Asked to comment on Guyana’s chances of coming out of the group with the addition of Jamaica, Hinds, who also represented Guyana at hockey said: “Guyana will now be the second highest ranked team in the revamped grouping. Our chances of qualifying will face higher hurdles and will require a motivated
Guyana team that has the synergy and focused
management to overcome the challenges.”
Hinds was president of the local federation when Guyana won the Caribbean championships and he said that was a milestone achievement.
“Guyana’s winning the Suriname hosted Caribbean Basketball Championship in 2018 was a milestone event for the Guyanese Basketball Community.
What stood out most for me was the incredible self-confidence of the Guyana team that was birthed by the incredible efforts of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation to ensure the team was well funded and taken care of. The players responded by winning the Caribbean Championships for the first time.
“Our status as Caribbean Champions guarantees Guyana eligibility in the Americas Pre-Qualifiers,” he said.
He also touched albeit briefly, on the important issue of funding, the chief bugbear of sports in Guyana.
“Regarding funding for the 2018 Caribbean Championships, it was not the best of times in terms of external funding to the GABF, was all that he would divulge.
Hinds though, is fully behind the Mike Singh led GABF and the team selected for the Pre-Qualifiers.
“The GABF has done well to ensure that overseas based Guyanese were brought to Guyana to train with the national squad,” he declared.
Some of the overseas-based players on whom much will depend are the James brothers, Delroy and Gordon and co-captain Anthony Moe.
Power forward Delroy James has played in Greece for Greek Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupóleos (Athletic Union of Constantinople) – AEK Basketball Club (BC) which won both the FIBA Basketball Champions League (BCL) and FIBA Inter-Continental Cup
Gordon James, Delroy’s brother, has had stints in Japan and Argentina, and represented Guyana at the 2015 CBC Senior Championships in Tortola, BVI and the FIBA AmeriCup 2022 Pre-Qualifier in 2019 in Tunja, Colombia.
Moe, a three point specialist is a good defensive player and was a member of the 2018 team. He has played semi-professionally in El Salvador and his experience will be vital.
Hinds, who runs a financial company, heads the list of sponsors that has assisted to make the team’s participation possible.
The others are JHI Associates, Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport, E-Networks, Hand-in-Hand, Atlantic Mining Supplies, American Airlines, Rima Guest House and Sleepin International.
