Organizers of the recently-concluded Georgetown Inter-Ward Basketball Tournament say that next year they are looking to make the tournament bigger by inviting some wards out of Linden and Berbice and also increasing the tournament’s first prize to $1M.
Co-organizer Simeon Francis of Hits and Jams Television (HJTV) yesterday said that they were overwhelmed by the response the tournament got from the public and the only way they can reward the players is by making it bigger next time around.
“Hits and Jams gives away a car valued at over $2M to one person at Jam Zone, so I don’t see no reason why next year we can’t give a $1M first prize for the winners of the inter-ward tournament,” Francis said.
“Apart from putting more money into the tournament, next year we’ll be looking at having more teams, providing better uniforms for the teams and to even get sneakers for each team, so definitely we will be coming big next year and its all because of the support we got and the way the players put a lot into the games,” added Francis, who is also an ardent basketball fan.
“We were just thrilled with how the tournament was played you know. The fans were outstanding, we had no worries with them at all, and this was because the level of the competition was very high. I would use this opportunity to thank everyone and more so the Guyana Police Force for a job well done.”
The HJTV representative said that already, they were approached by some sponsors who were pleased with what they had seen at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, a move which he believes has endorsed the potential of local NBA play-offs.
Meanwhile, national coach Robert ‘Bobby’ Cadogan believes that the tournament surpassed all expectations and he said he was simply amazed at how competitive the event was and the high level of discipline which was displayed.
“The event was good for the sport of basketball because based on talent and the support the players got, it was exactly what basketball needed at this time, especially since we missed out on the CBC championship this year….the players were really exceptional,” Cadogan said.
The national coach said further that the inclusion of Andrew Ifill in the tournament raised the level of competitiveness, since most players wanted to match-up and walked with their ‘A’ Game, knowing the ability of the pro-ball player.
“Next year we want to invite a few more wards from Linden and Berbice and stretch it out a bit more, so we will be engaging the national federation to see how we can go forward….and once corporate Guyana comes back on board, we’ll play in a group/league format,” added the national coach who is also part of the organizing committee of the tournament.
The 2009 Inter-Ward Basketball Tournament was sponsored by Lens Craft Optical and HJTV. It saw 16 wards (teams) from across Georgetown competing for a first prize of $500,000 which made it by far the richest basketball event ever played in Guyana.
After a month of pulsating matches, defending champions North Ruimveldt retained their 2007 title when they defeated Wortmanville/Werk-en-Rust in two straight games of their best-in-three finals.
