By Leeron Brumell
THE Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) will be hosting a four-team international tournament slated to bounce off next week at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall with six days of action.

The tournament will feature Washington DC Jammers and a Tri-State team from the USA, a male and female team from Trinidad and Tobago and four Guyanese teams-two-male and two female.

The tournament bounces off on June 24 and will have games on June 25, 27, 29, 30 and concludes on July 01 with three matches nightly from 18:30 hrs.

President of the GABF Colonel (Ret) Godwin McPherson said that the teams will be playing for ‘love’ and the camaraderie of the game, since the major sponsor Universal Airlines has pulled out.

A fifth team in the Richmond Hill Rebels-an all Indian team- being coordinated by Salim Nazudeen from Universal Airlines was expected to be here, but McPherson said that they pulled out because they were not happy with the publicity the sport was getting from one section of the media.

Despite this fact companies like West Indian Sports Complex, Banks DIH, Bounty Farms, Golden Brook and the Sheriff Restaurant and Bar have in some way assisted in the staging of the tournament.

The Trinidad and Tobago teams and the DC Jammers who have been coming here since 1988 are expected in on the evening of June 24 and will stand their own expenses, so too will be the Tri-State team.

The Tri-State team is being coordinated by Hilton ‘Bonzo’ Weekes and comprises Guyanese players from New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.

The teams have been given reasonable prices on the airline tickets, though it is more than what was put forward in concrete proposals with the airline.

McPherson said that the airline was offering a full package, airfare, and accommodation and playing prizes among other areas.

The president said that the Trinidadian teams will decide on accommodation when they arrive as the GABF is engaged in talks with two agencies.

The president said the aim of the fielding two male and female local teams is to give exposure to the players and to allow the programme to run snoothly.

Guyana’s male and female teams should be named by the weekend. They are under coaches Robert ‘Bobby’ Cadogan who is responsible for the male ‘A’ team and Hubert Adams the ‘B’ team, while the females are being coached by Brian Carter at the East Ruimveldt court.

Admission to the games on the first five nights will be $400, while on the night of the finals $500 will be charged.

The federation also disclosed that the male and female teams will make a return visit to Suriname on July 3.

A male and female Surinamese contingent was here over the Easter weekend for a Goodwill series, with the local males drawing the series 1-1, while the local females lost to their counterparts 2-0.. The series will be on July 4 and -5.