ANSA McAL trio rocking with National Futsal Championship

…tournament set to begin today

As the National Futsal Championship prepares for kick-off today, preparations are moving along quickly to ensure every aspect is in place for the tournament’s smooth running.
As such, distribution giant ANSA McAL joined the sponsorship train in just the nick of time, throwing the support of three of its brands behind the event.
Lucozade, Magnum and Heineken will all power the 64-team male tournament and the 4-team women’s playoff that will run until the New Year.
As such, during an official handing-over ceremony at the company’s Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara (ECD) Headquarters on Monday morning, Triston Freeman, Jamal Baird and Tonita Hunter, respective affiliates to the Lucozade, Magnum and Heineken brands spoke of the ease with which their decisions were made to support the National Futsal Championship.

“You guys would know that the Lucozade brand plays an important role when it comes to sports and the development of youths. So, again, this was a no-brainer for us to be a part of this tournament and to put our support behind futsal. It’s important to help youths that may not have the equal opportunity to be a part of something to play to showcase their skills and hopefully from these tournaments, we can produce international players and players who can represent Guyana in the forefront,” Lucozade’s Triston Freeman shared.
Magnum’s Jamal Baird similarly remarked, “We at ANSA McAL are pleased to be in this edition of the National Futsal Championship featuring 64 teams. We at Magnum Tonic Wine love to support grassroots development since me, myself come from grassroots playing futsal and football for the country. We at ANSA McAL would like to align with our corporate social responsibility, so, jumping onboard was a no-brainer and we’d like to ‘Tek charge’ of this event.”
On the part of the Heineken brand, Tonita Hunter stated, “On behalf of Heineken, I would like to say we’re happy to be onboard with the President’s National Futsal tournament and Heineken is proud to be a part of this in terms of sports and the development of sports in Guyana.
“With Heineken being, of course, an alcoholic brand, we’d like to encourage responsible consumption and we also would like to note, the people participating are 18 years and over. Nevertheless, we do encourage responsible consumption and would like to urge all to enjoy responsibly,” Hunter said in a disclaimer message.
With the event slated to commence today, coordinator from the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation, Kashif Muhammad gave an update on the tournament which included the revelation of a hike in prizes.
“Sponsorship is looking pretty good, so, what we’ve decided to do, we’ve raised our prize money from $1.5 million for first prize, we’ve raised it to $2 million because we also raised the girls’ prize money. Just like how we’re having a motorcycle for the Most Valuable Player for the guys, we’re putting up a motorcycle also for the Most Valuable Player for the girls,” Muhammad revealed.
He went on to add, “So, all in all, the tournament is looking very good. Once it gets better for us, the organisers, it’s our responsibility to make it better for the players and even the spectators.”
Five matches are tentatively set for the tournament’s opening night at the National Gymnasium.