JAMAICA’S Under-16 team and nine other Caribbean countries are currently in Guyana to participate in the 2016 Caribbean Basketball Championships, which begins tomorrow and runs through July 9.

The Jamaicans’ opening game will be against Suriname at 5:30 pm (Jamaican time), after being absent from the competition for the past 10 years.

Dr Mark Bromfield, president of the Jamaica Basketball Association (JaBA), is also head of delegation, and the contingent includes Tarry Upshaw, head coach, Lennox Lindo, assistant coach, Dave Black and John Campbell, physiotherapists.

The Jamaican players who departed the island on Thursday were Samara Williams, captain, Leacroft Lettman, Shaquel Benti, Jalen Menzies, Jabari Cunningham, Joseph Rousseau, David Gordon, Shevron Williams, Dominic McCormack, Markus Harding, Daimar Dyall-Richards, Akeem Ellis and Lawrence Foreman.

Group ‘A’ comprises Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, The Bahamas, Barbados and Dominica.

GROUP ‘B’ has Jamaica, Aruba, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago and host Guyana.

The winners and runners-up of Group ‘A’ and ‘B’ will contest the semi-finals, while the top three countries will go on to participate in the Centro Under-17 Championships.

The Caribbean Basketball Championships is an International Basketball Federation of Associations -sponsored tournament for Caribbean countries to participate.

— Gerald Reid