RHTYSC, Poonai Pharmacy, renews cricket sponsorship for 7th consecutive year

The Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club (RHTYSC) and the Poonai’s Pharmacy and Animal Health Care Store renewed their cricket relationship for the seventh consecutive year last Thursday. The company handed over the sponsorship cheque to the club during a simple presentation ceremony at its Public Road, Rose Hall Town Head Office.
RHTYSC Cricket Manager Robby Kissoonlall disclosed that Poonai’s Pharmacy and Animal Health Care came on board as an official sponsor of the RHTYSC in 2020. At the time, the popular pharmacy came on board as the sponsor of the Rose Hall Town Under-11 and Under-13 teams. The sponsorship deal was then expanded to include the Rose Hall Town Under-12 team.
Over the years, the Rose Hall Town Poonai’s Pharmacy U13 team has won four Berbice-wide tournaments and was the runner-up twice. Kissoonlall noted with pride that the team has reached the Berbice U13 tournament finals each year since the BCB started to host such tournaments under the Presidency of Hilbert Foster in 2020. The Poonai’s Pharmacy U12 team has currently reached the semi-finals of the ongoing Faizal Jafferally/BCB U12 cricket tournament, while the U13 team has reached the quarter finals of the BCB U13 tournament.

Further, Kissoonlall stated that the Poonai’s Pharmacy teams form the nursery of the club, as it feeds junior players for the Under-15, Under-17, and Under-19 divisions.
The team, over the years, has produced a total of 26 players at the inter-county level, while several have gone on to play for Guyana, including Tameshwar Deonandan, Leon Reddi, Jayden Ganpat, Trisha Hardat, Daniella Manns, and Rafael McKenzie.
Hardat and Manns have gone on to play for the West Indies at the female Under-19 level. Japhet Khaan, Lamer La Fleur and Aiden Moore are the three players from the RHTYSC who played in the Guyana Cricket Board inter-county tournament. Moore and La Fleur played for Berbice, while Khaan represented the GCB President XI team.
RHTYSC Assistant Cricket Manager Keith Hicks expressed gratitude to the management and staff of Poonai’s Pharmacy for their continued support of the club, which, since its formation in 1990, has won a total of 134 tournaments and has produced 136 inter-county players, 76 for Guyana and thirteen at the international levels.
Players like Assad Fudadin, Kevin Sinclair, Assad Fudadin, Dominic Rikhi, Askay Homraj, Royston Crandon, Shemaine Campbelle, Erva Giddings, Shenetta Grimmond, and Shabika Gajnabi are all products of the club.
Additionally, to its exploits on the cricket field, the Rose Hall Town Poonai’s Pharmacy teams co-hosted a total of 53 different projects under the name of the sponsor. They include Annual Christmas Village, Say Yes to Education, Tribute to Mothers, Tribute to Fathers, Annual Youth Magazine, Annual Cricket Academy, Grade Six Summer Camp, Tribute to Medical Doctors, Basil Butcher Trust Fund, and the distribution of school bags for less fortunate kids.
Poonai Bhigroog, Managing Director of the Pharmacy, stated that he was very impressed with the success of the different teams over the years and urged them to maintain their standards in the future. He congratulated the club management on a job well done with the youths. Poonai’s Pharmacy, he stated, would continue to sponsor the teams in the future once they can maintain their success on and off the cricket field.