The Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) continued to give back to community and youth development with a timely donation of $500,000 to the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) for its fourth National Club Championships dubbed “Road to Mecca IV” on Tuesday.
Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL,) Shevion Sears presenting the cheque to National Coordinator for the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation, Junior Hercules
Speaking at the handing over ceremony, GPL’s Public Relations Officer, Shevion Sears said it was is part of the company’s commitment to support the drive of developing youths and sports locally.
“GPL recognises our corporate social responsibility, which is to give back to national development. In this field of sports, which is basketball, we are honored to give back to the Guyana Basketball Federation. We are looking forward to the games, to ensure we see how our young people are propelling sports in Guyana,” Sears maintained.
Meanwhile National Coordinator for the GABF, Junior Hercules said the association is grateful for the “timely” donation. He explained that the monies will be spent on purchasing trophies for the participants.
Hercules explained; “We want to thank GPL for such a timely donation. In fact, our budget for the tournament is $3.4M. Our premier sponsor is Banks DIH but we have some subsidiary sponsorship. What will we do with the contribution from GPL is use it to purchase trophies, we would invite a member from GPL to witness entertainment in addition to the tournament”.
The tournament which started on December 1 is being held at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall and ten clubs across the country including Berbice, Linden, East Bank Demerara and East Coast Demerara are participating. The tournament will conclude on December 24 with the finals while the semi-finals will be played on Saturday, December 23. Two of the ten teams have already qualified for the semi-finals; those teams are defending champions Bounty Colts and the Victory Valley Royals.
The winning club will pocket $600,000, 2nd place $400,000, 3rd $200,000 with cash prizes for the Most Valuable Player and other novelty awards.
