Basketball: Coach Hercules outlines plans for road to Colombia

Head Coach of the senior National Men’s Basketball team, Junior Hercules, has outlined a programme of preparation ahead of the trip to Colombia for the FIBA AmeriCup qualifiers.

Apart from having trials on February 9-10, Hercules, who is also the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation’s Technical Director, wants to ensure the players are at their peak as they undertake the herculean task of qualifying for the 2021 edition of the tournament

“We are inviting all of the players with the exception of Felix Hamilton and Denver Devenish to our second leg of the qualifiers. At the trials we plan to invite players from the local scene who we believe should be given an opportunity to represent the country at the highest level.”

He added, “I have been in discussions with Anthony Moe, Stanton Rose, Kevon Wiggins and they all are eager to represent their country.”

Hercules also wants a one-week camp with the selected team prior to departure for Colombia.

Guyana has been placed in Pool B of the qualifiers alongside Bolivia, Paraguay and host nation Colombia, with the top two teams qualifying.

Making the cut to AmeriCup can give them a chance at World Cup qualification, which would potentially pave the way for a spot at the Olympic Games.

The FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 will qualify directly seven teams to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, while the 16 next best classified teams at the World Cup will get the chance of qualifying through one of the four FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in 2020.

Two selected teams per region will also take part in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, for a total of 24 teams divided in four tournaments of six teams each. The winner of each tournament will qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.