By Akeem Greene
Affiliates of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) on Saturday voted in favour of Michael Singh taking over the leadership of the Federation for the next four-year term.
Singh was Vice-president of Operations under the previous executive, headed by businessman Nigel Hinds, who did not seek re-election.
Singh was elected unopposed when voting began at the Annual General Meeting at Duke Lodge, Kingston, Georgetown.
The entire slate put forward by Singh was elected unopposed. They include Vice-president (Operations and Development) – Kenrick Thomas; Vice-president (Compliance and Discipline)- Lawrence Simon; Vice-president (Marketing and Public Relations) – Alex Graham; General Secretary – Patrick Haynes; Treasurer – Gavin Singh; Technical Coordinator – Junior Hercules and Assistant Secretary/Treasurer – Joe Chapman.
Singh will have his hands full with Guyana set to participate in the FIBA AmeriCup qualifiers from February 22-24 in Bogota, Colombia.
He indicated that on Monday he will meet the new executive to plot a way for the country to reach the qualifiers. He intends on gathering support from various partners, inclusive of the Guyana Government. He expressed confidence the over $7 million needed will be acquired.
Additionally, Singh revealed one of the priorities will be having a tournament, dubbed the President’s Cup, which will be in recognition of the achievements of the past heads of the federation.
Meanwhile, Hercules, who is also the Head Coach of the national Men’s team, indicated there will be trials on February 9-10 for local-based players. Guyana has been placed in Pool B of the qualifiers alongside Bolivia, Paraguay and host nation Colombia, with the top two teams qualifying.
Hinds stated in his outgoing address: “We have raised the bar. For example, 10 million (dollars) may seem like a lot, but that can probably fund one team for one championship. We have raised the bar. For instance, we had an awards ceremony where gave each of the national players $100,000 and this was done because when we came home as champions of the Caribbean no one reached out to us.”
He added that “Guyana needs to have a culture for sport” and called on various stakeholders, inclusive of Government, Guyana Olympic Association and the Private Sector to give more substantial support to sports.
Hinds served his full tenure from 2014-2018. The Returning Officer of Saturday’s election was Joshua Griffith.