Andrew Ifill knockout basketball tourney launched

Mar 12, 2020 Sports

By Calvin Chapman

The Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) launched the inaugural Andrew Ifill knockout basketball tournament yesterday at Palm Court on Main Street.

Team representative and executives pose for a photo at yesterday’s launch, from left, Dominic Vincente, Dennis Clarke, Jermaine Slater, Rawle Toney, Adrian Hooper and Warren Wilson.

The tournament bounces off this Sunday March 15th at the Burnham Court on Middle and Carmichael Streets where it will be played throughout until the final on April 5th that is being mooted to be played at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall (CASH) on Homestretch Avenue.
This is the first tournament that will be played under the recently elected new Executive Committee of GABA that is headed by Jermaine Slater.
Public Relations executive of GABA, Rawle Toney explained that, “We chose to name the tournament after former National player Andrew Ifill, who passed away last year, is because we want to honour his name. Ifill was an exceptional player for Guyana. We want his name and legacy to live on as long as possible.”
The tournament will be played in the under-21 and open divisions with the second division being scraped from the GABA setup.
Slater, who was also present at the launch, noted that, “Our executive has moved away from second division basketball to ensure everyone gets a chance to play because many guys don’t get a chance to play because there are only so many slots in the first division teams. So now, clubs will be afforded the chance to putforward at least two open teams in addition to theunder-21 team.”
The tournament has a total of 13 teams contesting in the open division and six teams in the under-21 division and is being sponsored by GABA.
When quizzed on whether the current political situation has affected GABA in organising and getting sponsors on board due to the fact that the Ifill tourney is self-sponsored, Toney cited that, “The current political climate has not affected us, we haven’t really thought about it in organising this tournament because we want potential sponsors/partners to know that basketball will continue regardless.”
He further added that, “We are trying to give basketball a brand. We want to put a product out so sponsors can see what they are getting. We want persons looking in to see that we have a structure and a smooth process going on and we welcome any impetus from the corporatecommunity.”
The Andrew Ifill championship trophy for the open division has been sponsored by the former player’s club; Bounty Colts and by extension, Bounty Farm.

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