BCB, Ross, Giddings, Balram and Gajnabi cop 2019 Sports Awards

RHTY&SC, MS, Gregory Gaskin Memorial Berbice Sports Awards…

The Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTY&SC) and its ten cricket teams on Thursday last hosted their Annual Gregory Gaskin Memorial Berbice Sports Award with sponsorship from the Basil Butcher Trust Fund.

The award is held yearly in memory of Gregory Gaskin, late founder of COPS Security Service and formerly an outstanding supporter of sports in Guyana.
National Volleyball outside- attacker Shamroy Ross and West Indies female cricketer Shabika Gajnabi won the prestigious Male and Female Sports Award for 2019, while West Indies female cricketer Erva Giddings received the Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to cricket over the last fifteen years.
The proactive Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) carried home the Sports Organisation of the Year award, while businessman Deonarine Balram of the popular Shane General Store was named Sports Personality for his support of all sports in the Ancient County during this year.
RHTY&SC Secretary/CEO Hilbert Foster has said the ten cricket teams are forging ahead with plans to fulfill most of their activities despite the ongoing corona pandemic. This, he said, is being done while observing the strict guidelines set by the Government. Foster disclosed that due to social distancing protocol, no official programme was held, but the awardees were invited to receive their awards on an individual basis.
Foster noted the importance of sports in the development of character in youths, and hailed all the awardees as positive role models for youths to emulate. He urged them to uphold the high standards they have set themselves in the past, and to work even harder to achieve even more success.
The RHTY&SC, Foster stated, would continue to be the premier youth and sports organisation in Guyana, and the club is proud to be involved in honouring the memory of Gaskin.

Shamroy Ross, in 2019, represented the GuySuCo Training Centre in Berbice and the National Volleyball Team with great success as an outside-attacker. Ross was named the Berbice Volleyball Association’s Most Valuable Player for 2019.
Gajnabi made her debut for the West Indies at the senior level, after outstanding performance for Berbice and Guyana. Giddings made her West Indies debut in 2008, and, over the years, has been an outstanding performer for the RHTY&SC, Berbice and Guyana. For over a decade, Giddings has played among her male counterparts at the second division level with great success, claiming over two hundred wickets.
The BCB has been the leading county board over the years, and in 2019 successfully completed over twenty-five tournaments and dozens of the field developmental programmes.
The Sports Personality of the Year, Deonarine Balram, is known across Berbice for his wholehearted support of sports. Over the last twenty years, he has been the sole sponsor of the Balram Shane Memorial Cricket and Volleyball tournaments.
RHTY&SC Asst Secretary Simon Naidu handed over all the awards, which included a trophy, medal, certificate of excellence, and a collection of special prizes. The ten cricket teams of the RHTY&SC are Poonai Pharmacy Under 12 and 13, Farfan and Mendes Under 15, Bakewell Under 17 and Second Division, Pepsi Under 19 and Intermediate, Metro Female, Namilco Thunderbolt Under 21 and First Division.
The joint RHTY&SC/BCB Basil Butcher Memorial project has distributed more than $4M worth of items and sponsored several events in tribute to the legendary West Indies batsman Basil Butcher, who died last December at the age of eighty-six.