Friday January 29, 2016
Kaieteur News
Stag Crown Your Community Promotion kicks off this weekend Several communities across Guyana will have a chance to upgrade their football field when the second edition of Stag Crown Your Community promotion commences this weekend. The promotion which was launched yesterday at 704 Sports Bar will run for two months where two boxes will be placed at bars in the communities and customers will have to submit Stag crowns in the said boxes. The Stag team will inspect the boxes every week and at the conclusion of the promotion the community with the highest entries will be crowned the winner. That community will choose what they want to be done to their ground to the tune of G$3M (Three Million Dollars).
The grounds selected are Christianburg Community of Linden, Campton Football ground in Campbelleville, Western Tigers ground in West Ruimveldt, # 5 (Monedderlust) of West Berbice, Esplanade Park New Amsterdam, Grove Playfield East Bank Demerara, Timehri Red ground of East Bank Demerara, Den Amstel West Demerara, Walton Hall Essequibo Coast, Bartica Community ground and Golden Grove East Coast Demerara. Speaking at the launching Ansa McAl Public Relations Officer Ms. Dharshanie Yusuf said they are happy to be associated with such a promotion once again and informed that customers must be 18 years
and older to participate. She added that they want to see development in the various societies. President of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) Wayne Forde stated that while everyone would like to see football being played at a high level, appropriate facilities are important and congratulated Ansa McAl on such a venture. Forde pointed out that some facilities have deteriorated and Ansa McAl have demonstrated their willingness to help football once again adding that he would like to see these campaigns increase and the GFF will be happy to assist. Linden won the promotion in 2011 and as a result Mackenzie Sports Club was resurfaced. (Zaheer Mohamed)
CEO - Big opportunities for Super50
Jason Mohammed celebrates victory with teammates at Queen’s Park Oval. WICB Media/Ashley Allen St. John’s, Antigua - West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), CEO, Michael Muirhead is optimistic about what the Super50 tournament can achieve in a few years. This is following a successful end to its flagship regional oneday international tournament – the NAGICO Super50. The tournament which ended last Saturday (January 23) in Trinidad and Tobago saw the defending 2015 champions, Trinidad and Tobago Red Force take the title. The CEO is delighted at the opportunities this tournament presents and indicates that in future years, “there is a direct opportunity for corporate partners to align themselves with the WICB.” The tournament which has been held under the NAGICO banner in the last three has had a number of positives; “we are hoping to improve on some of the issues we encountered.” We are pleased with the performances of the players • Darren Bravo (Trinidad and
Tobago Red Force) was the top scorer with 274 runs • Suliemann Benn was the leading wicket-taker with 15 wickets; but we had four others with 14 wickets – JonRuss Jaggesar TT Red Force), Damion Jacobs (Jamaica Scorpions), Delorn Johnson (Windward Island Volcanoes) and Veerasammy Permaul (Guyana Jaguars) • Three of the existing Franchises had at least three players making debuts – Jaguars - Gudakesh Motie, Romario Shepherd and Kevon Boodie; Scorpions - Brandon King, Aldane Thomas and Jermaine Harrison; Pride Roston Chase, Justin Greaves and Dane Currency • The ICC Americas gave an overall credible performance – they had two games where they scored over 200 runs and some of their other games were lost in close encounters ”The potential for this tournament is tremendous, and in keeping with the Board’s policy on selection, this pool
of players will form the platform from which the West Indies ODI final team is selected for international home and away series,” reiterated the CEO. The ODI Tri-Nation series featuring South Africa, Australia and the West Indies will be held in June this year and the “best available eligible players will be selected.” The CEO was adamant that the 9th place ranking in World ODI was not something he wants on the record for much longer and he hopes for gradual improvement over the short to medium term. On the Cricket schedule in the next few weeks - The four-day PCL resumes on Thursday, February 11 after which the men’s and women’s teams will participate in the World T20 in India. The men’s team will be announced shortly. The ICC Under-19 championship is now on in Bangladesh and the WI team played their first match last night against England. (WICB)
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India-Bangladesh clash to kick off Asia Cup India and Bangladesh will kick-off the main round of the Asia Cup on February 24, but the weekend clashes may garner more attention. India and Pakistan play each other the following Saturday and hosts Bangladesh takes on Sri Lanka, the current title holders, on Sunday. The tournament will be played in Twenty20 format for the first time and all 11 matches including the final will be played at Shere Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur. India and Pakistan, who last met on the cricket field at the World Cup in 2015, are now set to play each other twice in three weeks: after their February 27 match in the Asia Cup, they have a World T20 match on March 19. It could be thrice in three weeks if both teams compete against each other in the final of the Asia Cup on March 6. While the tournament was
India and Bangladesh will kick off this year’s edition of the Asia Cup © AFP played in an ODI format, Sri Lanka have been the most prolific team in the tournament’s history. They have won 34 of 48 matches played and took the trophy home five times. Besides the four major nations, Afghanistan, Oman, Hong Kong and UAE will be
playing a qualifying tournament that starts on February 19. Each team will play three matches and the one that finishes on top will advance to the main event. In case two teams finish with the same points, their net run rates will be used as tiebreaker. (ESPNcricinfo)
Exclusive: FIFA candidates head to Qatar as Sexwale says ‘time for alliances’ Four of the candidates for President of FIFA are heading to Qatar for meetings tomorrow, with one of them, South African Tokyo Sexwale, saying “the time for alliances is coming”. The development suggests that electoral horsetrading might be about to begin in the battle to replace Sepp Blatter as head of football’s world governing body. Spokesmen for the frontrunners, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and Gianni Infantino, and for Sexwale confirmed to Reuters that they will be in Doha for a game tomorrow and to meet with Asian member associations of FIFA. A spokesman for Jordanian Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, also a candidate, later confirmed he would be traveling to Qatar for tomorrow’s game - the final of the Asian Football Confederation Under-23 Championship between South Korea and Japan. The other candidates, Jerome Champagne, a former FIFA deputy general secretary, declined to comment on whether he would also be in Qatar. Speaking on South Africa’s Metro FM radio yesterday, Sexwale confirmed that he would also be in Qatar as a “guest of Sheikh Salman” and hinted at eventual support for an Asian candidate. ”The time for alliances is coming. This is the new thing that I am saying. It is healthy, democratic and it is good. “If I see that Tokyo’s chances are not good ... I am still FIFA, but which president would I want? The time for alliances will come,” he said. That time
Tokyo Sexwale. Reuters/Mohamad Torokman would be before the Feb. 26 vote, he said. ”We are now talking, this one is talking to me, that one is talking to me. But who is talking? We are brothers, we are colleagues, we are comrades in arms,” Sexwale said. One of the key power brokers in world sport, Kuwaiti Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fadah AlSabah, told Reuters in October that he hoped his ally Sheikh Salman, the Asian football chief, and Infantino, the general secretary of the European football body, UEFA, would strike a deal before the vote. ”I hope there will not be a difficult situation, I hope there will be a coordination and we will find a solution,” he said. Both Salman and Infantino have denied any deal is in place. Sexwale declined to discuss directly whether he would withdraw from the election but said he wanted to see an African or an Asian become the next president. ”There is this desperation of ‘withdraw’, ‘withdraw’. In whose interest?” he asked. “Let me tell you my strategy ... what is the bottom line? It
is not Tokyo Sexwale,” he said. “The bottom line for me, and I am appealing to Europe, to European voters, with the support of Europe let’s have an Asian or African president. That is the bottom line.” Sexwale’s campaign has been criticized by his own South African Football Federation. Although it stated its support for him this week, the group said his bid had been “low key” and asked him to “come and explain himself”. The South African, who was imprisoned in Robben Island during apartheid and was a close friend of Nelson Mandela, suggested Infantino would not be the right choice, as another Swiss following Blatter, who has been president since 1998. ”He is my friend, he is a buddy, but I would say maybe we should not replace Blatter with another Swiss,” he said. Blatter and Michel Platini, who had been a strong favorite to succeed him, were banned over a payment of two million Swiss francs ($2 million) FIFA made to Platini with Blatter’s approval in 2011 for work done a decade earlier. (Reuters)