Led by Jamaica Basketball Association (JaBA) president, Ajani Williams, the 'Team Jamaica - Road to London's 2012 Olympics' campaign was launched yesterday at the Hilton hotel in Kingston, with sponsorship announcements from its major players.

They include Flow, Jamaica's leading cable company, along with KFC and the Government, through the sports ministry.

KFC will contribute $4 million and Sports Minister Olivia 'Babsy' Grange, said the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) will increase its donation by $2.9 million, for an overall contribution of $5 million from the Government.

The team will continue its preparation with several training sessions, leading up to their departure next week Thursday for Tortola, British Virgin Islands, to contest the Caribbean Basketball Championships (CBC), which will run from June 28 to July 4.

Williams said he and his team are "pursuing happiness, not singularly for ourselves, but collectively for many."

He continued: "Basketball has done a 180-degree turn and Team Jamaica is one of the representatives of that fact. By putting this team and coaches together, we hope to achieve not only victory at the Caribbean Championships, but also a new global brand for the world that will expose our country's other exceptional talents.

expressing satisfaction

"We won't spend time talking about how to monetise sports in Jamaica for the benefit of our society, but we will carve out ways to (convert) that into reality."

Williams, while expressing satisfaction for the support shown by the sponsors, said 'now let's hope we have success and can build on that and take Team Jamaica 'roun de world'."

Minister Grange, Sharon Roper, director of marketing at Flow, and Tina Matalon, marketing manager KFC, endorsed the programme.

Sam Vincent, who coached the Nigerian women's team to the Olympics, will condition the Jamaica team.

Vincent also had coaching stints after his playing days with Seattle Supersonics, the Orlando Magic and the Chicago Bulls in the NBA.

Julian Dunkley, who led the team to the CBC title in 2006, and Paul Mokeski, a retired NBA player, who is most remembered for playing for the Milwaukee Bucks, will be the assistant coaches to Vincent.

The squad is: Chaz Carr, Kali McCarty, Mike Coburn, Michael Rogers, Damon Staple, Garfield Ricky Johns, Adrian Forbes, Shane Nicely, Oneil Mundle, Kemar McLeish, Samardo Samuels, Ortiseweyinmi Efejuku, Kimani Ffriend, Christopher Walker, Neveji Walters, Andre Smith and Ricardo Alliman.