Georgetown, GUYANA – The Guyana Men’s National Team (GMNT) has been confirmed as one of the four National Basketball Federations that will be competing in the first round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup – Americas Pre-Qualifier in the city of San Salvador, El Salvador. The competition dates has also been confirmed as 14-18 April 2021 which is one week later that previously communicated. The competition schedule has been adjusted to allow for the completion of the FIBA Basketball Champions League Americas (BCLA) to allow National Federations to field their best teams to participate in the first round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup – Americas Pre-Qualifier.
The GMNT is expected to arrive in San Salvador April 12th and depart April 19th. The competition format will be Round Robin and the top three (3) teams will advance to the second round of the FIBA Basketball World Cup – Americas Pre-Qualifier in July 2021.
FIBA Basketball World Cup – Americas Pre-Qualifier 1st Round participating National Teams are:
- Costa Rica (CRC)
- Guyana (GUY)
- El Salvador (ESA)
- Nicaragua (NCA)
The GMNT is the highest ranked team in this pre-qualifying competition according to the latest FIBA World Rankings. Guyana’s highest achieved rank was 98 in late November 2020 and has since fell two spots due to the lack of international competition.
FIBA World Rankings (WR) presented by Nike:
- Guyana (GUY) – WR 100
- Costa Rica (CRC) WR – 106
- Nicaragua (NCA) – WR 116
- El Salvador (ESA) – WR – 133
FIBA Americas Regional Office has provided the Guyana Basketball Federation (GABF) a comprehensive package outlining the requirements and deadlines for completing and uploading the required documents into the competition portal including the Eligibility of Players, Preliminary Delegation List (maximum of 24), Team Doctor, Covid-19 Compliance Team Official, Pre-Travel PCR Test Results and Uniform Artwork to name a few.
FIBA has also communicated that at FIBA’s discretion, doping checks can be performed at any of the venues of the event, whether at competition venue, training venues or hotel, during competition time and the GMNT must comply with any anti-doping officer according to Article 2 of the FIBA Internal Regulations, Book 4 that oversee Anti-Doping Rule Violations. All GMNT players are mandated to complete the WADA Whereabouts form as mandated by the GABF and the Guyana Olympic Association – National Anti-Doping Organization (GOA / NADO).
