Sports

The Guyana Football Federation (GFF) yesterday invited 20 players to begin an intensive training clinic for possible selection on the Guyana team to contest the Caribbean Football Union/FIFA World Cup qualifiers to be played in Grenada from May 1-13.

Current General Secretary of the Guyana Football Federation Noel Adonis has been re-elected to serve yet another term as president of the Guyana Rugby Football Union (GRFU) following the Annual General meeting held last Sunday.

A star-studded cast of 15 players was yesterday selected by the coaches and coordinator of the Guyana Secondary Schools Basket-ball Association (GSSBA) on the Georgetown Schools’ All-Star team which will compete against a Linden All-Stars team on Monday at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

– will let his car do the talking Shailendra Mahabir has tossed out all expectations of a successful title defence in the Group `B’ category of the Guyana Motor Racing and Sports Club (GMR&SC) annual Drag Racing meet on Easter Sunday, as he will make his debut in the `A’ category.

Former World Boxing Council (WBC) Cruiserweight champion Wayne `Big Truck’ Braithwaite is back on the road and looking to drive all the way to the top of the cruiserweight mountain.

National junior champion Nigel Bryan heads a list of some 47 players shortlisted by the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) for the upcoming Caribbean Cadet and Junior Table Tennis Championships which are scheduled to be held in Guyana from April 11-18 2008.

The Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) will be staging the 2008 Mashramani Swim Meet this weekend at Colgrain pool beginning on Saturday at 9am, after it had been planned for earlier this month.

Cummings Lodge Secondary extended their unbeaten streak to 15 straight games when they slaughtered a fierce Queen’s College side 71-64 to advance to the Georgetown conference finals of the Guyana Secondary School Basketball Associa-tion’s (GSSBA) ‘March Madness’ play-offs.

The top performers of the 2007 Banks Premium Beer Cup 16-team knockout football tournament will be presented with their prizes today at a Presentation Ceremony at head office of the sponsors,beverage giants Banks DIH, Thirst Park.

Any plans for the West Indies to be demoted to a second tier of Test cricket by the International Cricket Council (ICC) would be strenuously resisted by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), president Julian Hunte said yesterday.

Selectors generally unconvinced about the value of spin bowlers in their deliberations yesterday included two new to Test cricket in their squad of 15 for the first match of the home season against Sri Lanka, starting at the National Stadium in Guyana on Easter Saturday.

The 30th Annual Guyana and Trinidad Mutual, Fire and Life (GTM) Insurance Company Under-19 Inter-county three-day and limited overs competition was launched at the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) office to the tune of $3m yesterday.

The Guyana Secondary Schools Basketball Associa-tion will stage the two semifinal matches in the George-town conference today, starting at 11pm at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

Christopher Holder continued his dominance on the local cycling scene when he outrode his more illustrious opponents to win the feature event of the 15th Annual R&R International Schoolboys and Novices’ cycle meet at the Inner circuit of the National Park on Saturday.

The Wismar Pistons and the Patriots are the last two teams standing after an eventful season in the National Communications Network (NCN) Second Division basketball league and will meet in the finals this Saturday evening at the Mackenzie Sports Club Hard Court in Linden.

Trophy Stall has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Trophy Stall-sponsored 15 overs softball cricket competition after defeating Regal XI on Sunday at the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) ground, Carifesta Avenue.

Rain had the final say on the final day of the 2008 Carib Beer fifth round match between Guyana and the Combined Campuses and Colleges (CCC) at the National Stadium, Providence, forcing the umpires to call off the game just after the tea break yesterday.

  Guyana’s middle-distance star and records holder, Marian Burnett was knocked from her chance to get to the Women’s 800m final at the 12th IAAF World Indoor Championships at the meet which ended yesterday in Valencia, Spain.

Anthony Downes completed an outstanding victory in the semifinals of the Banks DIH Plus Energy Open tennis tournament when he defeated Ezra Sue-Ho on Saturday to advance to the finals of the men’s open singles at Le Meridien Lawn tennis courts.

The Maccabees basketball team’s 2-0 record was blemished by the Nets first loss in a 65-62 double overtime game during Sunday evening’s Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association’s Brydens second division league at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.