GABA launches Andrew Ifill Knockout Basketball Tournament
…1st game to commence on March 15
By Timothy Jaikarran
At a simple ceremony held at the Palm Court on Wednesday, the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) launched its highly anticipated Andrew Ifill Knockout Tournament.
GABA President Jermaine Slater
The tournament consists of two categories namely the Open and U-21 categories. It will officially commence on Sunday, March 15, and conclude on April 5, with the final. All matches will be played at the Burnham Hardcourt.
GABA President Jermaine Slater, GABA PRO Rawle Toney and representatives of the participating teams
Speaking at the launching of the inaugural tournament was GABA President Jermaine Slater who said, “This is the first tournament of this kind under our new administration. We did this tournament to honour Andrew to ensure his name and his legacy is carried on; we are hoping that this can be held annually under this administration. We have excluded Second Division, but to try and use the Open division where more players can come out to play. We are inviting everyone to come out and watch as top level of basketball will be played; we also have upcoming tournaments that will be announced in the future.”
Slater also noted that there will be trophies available for the respective divisions; he stated that Ifill represented the Bounty Colts and thus Bounty has sponsored the first-place trophy in his honour. Ifill last represented Guyana at the 2014 Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championships in the British Virgin Islands (BV)I, where he teamed up with former Dallas Mavericks and Indiana Pacers guard Rawle Marshall, to guide Guyana to a fifth-place finish. In that tournament, Ifill finished with an average of 12.2 points, six rebounds, and 1.6 assists.
The first match of the tournament will commence at 18:00h, with Eagles battling the Colts in the U-21 division and the Guardians battling the Colts in the Open division. It will feature a total of 19 matches. The teams participating in the tournament are Eagles, Colts, Sonics, UG B, Guardians, and UG A in the Open and U-21 categories.
The games will be played under the current Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) rules, as playing time will feature four quarters of 10 minutes per quarter. Teams are required to be present 30 minutes before the game as players are encouraged to follow strict protocol.
