BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE St. Kitts Amateur Basketball Association (SKABA) will tip off its highly anticipated 2010 season this Sunday (Apr. 11) with matchups between top local teams and visiting champions from the British Virgin Islands and Antigua and Barbuda.
Antigua’s reigning Super 8 champion Defense Force Warriors and the BVI’s Talk Dat are slated to arrive in the Federation tomorrow (Apr. 10) and will engage both the reigning LIME Premier Division champion S. L. Horsford’s Ghetto Roots and former champion Rams Hitters in competition over the weekend.
The first match will take place tomorrow evening in Challengers when Ghetto Roots take on Warriors in a clash of the champions that will see top local players such as guard Levi ‘By-By’ Fyfield and 2009 MVP Rymal ‘Bally’ Browne taking on Antiguan greats such as Marlon ‘Buju’ Charles, Mario ‘Little’ Davis and Shawn ‘Gizmo’ Williams.
Then on Sunday evening basketball fans will be treated to one of the most exciting season openings in recent history beginning at 4:30 p.m. In the first game of the double header, Warriors will take the court at Basketball City to face Hitters in a rematch of last season’s opener.
Though Hitters dropped the 2009 game, Head Coach and association President James ‘Barman’ Hanley said in a recent press statement that his lineup, which still features core players such as Trevor ‘Marty’ Huggins and Shawn ‘Shabba’ Forbes, are ready and waiting for their regional opponent.
“I expect another exciting and keenly contested match-up and bearing in mind that we suffered a tough loss to the Warriors last year we are definitely excited and anxious to face them once again to redeem ourselves.
“We have been in training for some time now in preparation for the start of the league and the Antiguan Super 8 Champions will be the perfect team to gauge our readiness for the 2010 season,” Hanley said.
In the second game of the evening, Ghetto Roots will test their mettle against Talk Dat stars such as Ronnie ‘Gola’ Simmonds and Nathaniel ‘Nat’ Malone.
Ghetto Roots Manager Wallis Wilkin said that he is confident of Ghetto Roots’ chances to not only win their season opener, but to also claim back-to-back Premier Division championships.
“We have welcomed back a few players who were members of the team in the past but were absent over the last few years for various reasons. These additions will certainly strengthen the team and organisation. Coach Garfeild Alexander did an excellent job in 2009 and I am confident that he will once again lead us to the National Championship,” Wilkin stated.
In addition to some of the best basketball in all of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, Sunday’s SKABA LIME League opening is slated to feature top halftime entertainment from S Model Management.
Admission for the opening has been set at an affordable EC $10 and SKABA officials have encouraged the public to come out in their numbers and start the 2010 season off right.
