It’s a doubly special time for the Leicester Riders who made some exciting announcements at a press conference today, hosted by Pukaar News.
The team which has been undefeated all month have finally snapped up Great Britain’s captain Andrew Sullivan for the duration of the BBL season with the help of local businesses in Leicester.
Speaking about the support from the community, Andrew said: “I feel it speaks volumes about how important sport is in this area. I’ve met some of the sponsors only once and actually met one of them only today and for them to sponsor me without even meeting me first really speaks volumes.”
Andrew has been on a weekly contract with the Riders since mid-October but was finally able to put pen to paper when given an offer he could not refuse. He added: “As a professional athlete you do want some security and don’t want to left in the lurch. I feel that with this move I can now concentrate 100% on my basketball.”
The second cause for celebration was the announcement of the Leicester Riders coach Rob Paternostro being named as Molten BBL Coach for the Month of November.
Speaking about the new signing, he said: “Over the last few weeks we were looking at things game by game and Drew and I discussed the opportunity for him to stay on. Now that he’s going to be here for the year, it certainly gives me a lot of excitement and confidence that we can get better and better as the season goes on.”
The clubs general manager Russel Levenston gave a special vote of thanks to all the sponsors who came on board. These included; Jamie Lewis of Jamie Lewis Residential, Vic Sethi of Anand Daewoo International, Romail Gulzar of Pukaar News and Paul Levenston of Laurick Jewellery.
He said: “We’re only as good as the fans and local businessmen that support us and are grateful for their help which allows us to get the best possible players. We’ve had a full house every single game this season and we encourage a lot of the players to go to local schools to talk to the children and motivate them to play the game.”
Romail Gulzar of Pukaar News added: “Pukaar are very happy and proud to show our support by sponsoring the Leicester Riders. Pukaar is a community-focused business and so we believe our contribution in this way can make a real difference to the city of Leicester and the Leicester Riders.”
Vic Sethi of Anand Daewoo International said: “It was great to witness the environment at the basketball games where all the children are able to go up to the players after the game and get their autographs. You don’t see that in other sports. I want to see the Riders doing well. I am passionate about Leicester and want to see Leicester doing well.”
