– that PM T20 Softball Cup tournament was played despite ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
By Timothy Jaikarran
Guyana’s Prime Minister, Brigadier (Ret’d) Mark Phillips, an avid fan of softball cricket, is grateful that the 4th edition of the PM T20 Softball Cup cricket tournament was successfully played during the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament was indeed a major success, and brought much relief to everyone.
The tournament featured some of Guyana’s top softball teams battling for $200,000 in the respective Open, O50 and O45 categories. The emerging champions were Speedboat, Regal Legends and Fisherman Masters in that respective order.
Speaking with Guyana Times Sport, the Prime Minister when asked his views on the tournament, and responded: “Well, it’s a good feeling, in a sense, that we were able to go through a learning curve. We learned how to deal with the pandemic, so to speak, in that we have a set of protocols and a set of measures, and we were able to put those protocols in place to allow events like these to be restarted.
“As far as I am concerned, this is a success story because we had the protocols in place as much as you can see.”
The Prime Minister went on to declare that other sporting bodies are encouraged to restart their activities once they adhere to the COVID-19 protocols, and he said that while many may see the PM T20I Cup tournament as a start in that regard, he is hoping other sporting disciplines would follow in the future, rolling out their activities over the season.
He was adamant that other sporting activities would slowly be rolled out from December 2020 into 2021, and he noted that the COVID-19 pandemic would be there for a long time.
Among the sponsors of this year’s PM T20I tournament were Banks DIH, Chung’s Global, Danny Persaud (Youtuber) It’s our life ARD, Regal Stationery and Computer Centre, Elegance Jewellery and Pawn Shop, Price Chopper Store, Star Party Rentals, P&P Insurance, Dyna’s Embroidery, Caribbean Airlines, Crown Mining Supplies, and Dinar Trading.