By LeVaughn Flynn, Staff ReporterJAMAICA'S MALE and female basketball teams will leave the island this morning for Santiago, Cuba to take part in the Senior CARICOM Basketball Tourna-ment from June 12-17.
Both teams staged a one-week training camp at G.C. Foster College, from which 12 members were picked in preparation for the tournament.
Andrei Grant, Owain Hall and Kali McCarthy are the three local-based players on the male team, which is completed by Tyrone Smith, Chris Saunders, Oneil Kamaika, Mugabe Thomas, Michael Kennedy, Robert Kelly, Kevin Young, Damion Staples and Brian Lewin. Five local players are on the female team, namely Oberon Pitterson, Moneta Anderson, Nyomi Brissett, Sasha-Gay Henry and Tameika Lemonious. Shawnette Ridley, Alicia Fung, Chevanese Samms, Janet Williams, Althea Byfield, Simone Jackson and Syreeta Bromfield are the other members.
The teams are scheduled to return June 18.
MATCH-UPS
The male team will be up against Cuba and Bahamas in Group B. Antigua and Barbuda, US Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos and Barbados will do battle in Group A.
The women are zoned with Barbados, St. Vincent and The Grenadines and the US Virgin Islands in Group B. Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago will contest Group A.
President of the Jamaica Basketball Association, Marland Nattie, heads the 35-member delegation to Cuba which includes Alf Remekie and Andrew Kennedy, coaches of the male team and women's coach Rerita Esannason.
Team managers Captain Clifton Lumsden and Clofyeld Thomas along with physiotherapists John Campbell and Wayne Stewart and referee Kevin Pinnock will also accompany the team.
