President of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) Mike Singh has confirmed the provisional composition of the Women’s 3×3 Team, which will compete at the FIBA AmeriCup Championship in Miami, Florida, from November 12-14.
This was confirmed during a brief interview with Stabroek Sport yesterday. According to Singh, the squad will be selected from the shortlisted five member roster, which includes two foreign-based professionals that ply their trade in Spain.
He explained, “We have Joy Adams who has committed, she plays professionally in Spain. We are also looking at Mariam McKenzie who also plays professionally in Spain and also played for us in 2016. Locally we have two upcoming stars in Jada Mohan and Petal Leacock from Kwakwani. They are upcoming stars in Guyanese female basketball. We also have another girl named Kesaunn Charles. They will round out the female team.”
Singh said that the local contingent will commence training shortly in the form of a camp, as they aim to prepare the team both physically and tactically for the format prior to their departure.
“The local players will train, these are the three we intend to work with at a camp to get their fitness levels up and ensure they adapt to the 3×3 rules and competition play. We are probably going to start in the next two weeks, maybe weekend training sessions and intensify closer to the departure of the team which is either November 10th or 11th.”
According to Singh, a quality tournament is expected to be conducted, as the staging will be held in an environmental bubble.
FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup Open Category will feature 33 teams. That equates to 18 men’s teams and 15 women’s units. Guyana will feature in Qualifying Draw ‘C’ in the men’s pool alongside St. Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.
In the Women’s section, the teams are Argentina, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, USA, and Venezuela.
Guyana will take part in Qualifying Draw ‘A’ in the women’s section against Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala, and Jamaica.
