Prominent Guyanese softball player Bilall Haslim passes on

Prominent Guyanese softball player Bilall Haslim passed away on Monday morning, after he suffered heart failure, according to reports.
The versatile all-rounder Haslim was 41 years old and hailed from Industry, East Coast Demerara ECD).
Haslim represented various clubs in Demerara over the past two decades and donned the Demerara inter-county softball team colours as well. He was the elder brother of ex-Demerara player Wasim Haslim, who was also a prolific softball cricketer, both in Guyana and North America, and the cousin of former Guyana First-Class players and brothers, Zaheer and Azeemul Haniff.
Several veteran softball players expressed their shock on learning of Haslim’s demise on Friday. “I [am] in disbelief; he was not just a cricketer, he was also a great person, and to wake up this morning and hear that he is gone is certainly unbelievable,” stalwart softball player Bobby Parasnauth stated on Friday.
The emotional Parasnauth, who currently resides in Canada, said he and Haslim played a lot of cricket at Industry and neighbouring village Ogle in the late 90s. Another experienced softball player and former administrator at the Guyana Softball Cricket Association, Royston Ramsarran was also in disbelief and stated that his cricket days with Haslim were memorable and his death was definitely unbelievable.
“This is shocking to learn that Bilall is no more here; he was a very committed cricketer when we were playing for Mike’s Pharmacy in the annual softball competitions in the mid-90s. He was a superbly talented player,” Ramsarran said from the USA.
Recently, Haslim was representing top softball team Regal and one of his teammates, distinguished softball player Ramnesh Narine also shared his shock at Haslim’s sudden demise.
“It is unbelievable that Haslim has passed away; I only spoke to him several days ago and we were talking about how we missed the game and planning to continue playing when things get back to normal,” the Essequibian related.
Roverdra Mandolall, a former national youth player, stated that he was delighted to play with Haslim in Georgetown during their time for Mike’s Pharmacy. According to Mandolall, Haslim was an excellent cricketer and always demonstrated passion for the game and he would definitely be missed by the softball cricketing fraternity.
Because of his ability and consistency Haslim featured in the GTT nationwide softball tournament representing Regal and organiser Leonard Harprashad gave voice to his grief that softball has lost a gentleman both on and off the field. Speaking from Orlando, Florida, USA, Harprashad said that Haslim was very outstanding with both bat and ball and his leadership qualities were also magnificent.