2nd One Guyana Basketball Premier League set for August 19

The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS) and Guyana Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) are continuing their efforts to develop basketball throughout Guyana with the launching of the second edition of the One Guyana Basketball Premier League on Friday at the National Gymnasium.
The league will commence from August 19, 2024, and is projected to conclude on March 12, 2024, with two breaks, and the games being live-streamed on the Ministry’s social media page.
President of the Georgetown Basketball Association, Jermaine Slater expounded on the quality of basketball in the inaugural edition and his expectations for better basketball with the change of format.

“The first edition was thrilling from start to finish, especially in the playoffs. We witnessed incredible competition, excitement, and development around our club; the energy, dedication and passion displayed by players were truly remarkable and it is clear that fostering the growth of basketball here In Guyana. This year, we have expanded the league by adding more games, it is prompting more excitement, we are not only having the teams in their groups, but the teams will be playing within, in their groups and once within the other groups.”
The tournament will see 10 teams being divided into two conferences – The Harpy League and The Jaguar League with 80 games. Teams will play each other twice in the group and once from across groups.
During the launch, Culture, Youth and Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr emphasised the success of the inaugural edition and requested that players make it spectator-friendly.
The Sport Minister shared, “Let’s acknowledge that the first league tournament that we had playing here, which was launched last year, was a huge resounding success and tremendous success. You have got to help to build the event, build the tournament which means that you have to make it a lot more spectator-friendly so you don’t want to end up in a situation where persons were not listening to the referee, being indiscipline and I came personally just to see what that was like, not because I was interested in who was playing who.”
Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle disclosed that the reduction of teams showed a level of improvement in the quality of athletes.
“Last year we would have had 14 teams and this year we are down to 10 teams, but we are down to 10 teams, because we are improving the quality of the product that is being played and that for me is something that needs to be applauded, because quality is very important in anything that we do, the quality of food that you eat say a lot about your body, the quality for the friends that you have also say a lot about us, so it tells me that from last year to this year, we have seen some level of improvement,” Ninvalle disclosed.
The winning team of the tournament will receive $1 million along with trophies while the runner-up team will receive $500,000 with trophies.