The Guyana Basketball Federation (GBF) has revealed the names of five talented young men who have been shortlisted to attend the 2019 Nike/FIBA under-17 development camp in Puerto Rico in July.
The quintet are as follows: Lugard Mohan Jr., and Timothy Richmond (Georgetown), Kadeem Dover and Royon Short (Kwakwani), and Emanuel Atherley.
The youngsters were selected following the conclusion of the recent youth hoops basketball clinics in Georgetown and Linden and were recommended as the best five by former NBA player Jermaine Taylor and Coach Rich Mahler of the USA.
Meanwhile, Michael Singh, President of the local governing body, in an invited comment, explained that the thought process behind allowing Taylor and Mahler to select the five was set in place to eliminate prejudices.
“We allowed them to pick the team because a lot of the other territories actually subcontracted the selection of their teams and it gives a fresh view because our local coaches have a youth player here, a youth player there… Ideally, we wanted to make it a fair process,” Singh told Stabroek Sport.
Singh also disclosed that 10 other young players were also selected along with the Puerto Rico bound quintet to form part of ‘Next Generation of Guyana’s National Basketballers’ who will be kept together as a unit.
The squad will be drilled and guided under the watchful eyes of coach Lugard Mohan Sr. in preparation for other international engagements on the horizon in the near future such as Centro Basketball and CBC U17 Championships, set for 2020.
The other shortlisted players are as follows: Jamal Nicholas, Kahil Ferrington, Elijah David, Kareem Whitney, Gabriel Lim, Ming Wong, Josiah Roberts, Lamon Friday, DaMarcus Adams, and Stephan Deleon.
