Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) under its Pepsi brand, became the latest sponsor to partner with the Petra Organization in their staging of the ExxonMobil U14 Football championships.
This simple but significant presentation ceremony occurred yesterday at the DDL boardroom in Diamond.
Larry Wills, Pepsi Brand Manager, said that the company was proud to once again support the initiative which was curtailed in 2019 owing to the pandemic.
According to Wills, the establishment prides itself on giving back and contributing to the development of sports and the human resource at every level, adding that the entity will continue to support the programmes once the Petra Organization maintains its sublime track record of efficiency.
Meanwhile, Troy Mendonca, Co-Director of the Petra Organization, said, “On behalf of the Petra Organization we want to express our gratitude to the management of DDL under its Pepsi brand for coming on board to assist in the delivering of the ExxonMobil U14 boys and girls’ tournament.”
He posited that the institution should not view the programmes as simply part of their corporate social responsibility, but as an investment in human resource development because many players have emanated to represent the country at the national level.
“The Petra Organization thanks you in a very big way and we encourage that you continue to invest in these programmes,” Mendonca said.
The event which will feature male and female components starts tomorrow and will utilise a round-robin format. The boy’s division will feature 24 schools, with teams divided into six groups of four while the eight-team girl’s section will feature two groups of four.
Upon the conclusion of the group stage, 16 teams will advance to the knockout round from the boys pool. The teams will then play for positions 1-16. Similarly, the female section will contest for positions 1-8.
The competing teams are L’Aventure, Patentia, New Campbellville, Cummings Lodge, Dolphin, East Ruimveldt, Lodge, Leonora, North Ruimveldt, St. Cuthbert’s, West Ruimveldt, Freeburg, West Demerara, Golden Grove, Tutorial, Marian Academy, Plaisance, New Central, Houston, Charlestown, St Winifred’s, Kingston, Tucville and Ann’s Grove.
The top four finishers from each division will walk away with $300,000, $150,000, $75,000, and $40,000 correspondingly towards a project within the respective institutions. The total sponsorship of the tournament comes in at $6,000,000.
