Sixteen players and two standbys have been named by the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) for the inaugural Pan American Hockey Federation (PAHF) Caribbean Cup women’s championships billed for next month in Trinidad and Tobago.
The championships will take place from November 7-11 and will also feature Barbados, Jamaica and hosts Trinidad and Tobago.
The squad was announced following the final trial match last Sunday at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground and after months of intensive training.
The squad includes two goalkeepers, six defenders, four midfield players and four strikers.
Coach Philip Fernandes disclosed that the Board had an initial squad of 30 players in training from the start of this year for a goodwill series in Trinidad, but the PAHF decided in August to stage the first ever PAHF Caribbean Cup in November, so the players were prepared for the challenge.
Guyana will field both male and female teams for the tournament which will be the first of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Fernandes who is also the local hockey board President revealed, “The ladies have been coming off a long absence from international competition and this will be the first official PAHF sanctioned tournament for all the players as their only international exposure to date has been a Tri-nation tournament held last year in Venezuela where they finished second to Brazil.”
He was cautious at the team’s chances: “Despite the seemingly lengthy preparation, the tournament is not expected to be an easy one for the unranked local ladies as they face the fierce competition of Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica who are ranked 3rd, 4th and 5th in the Central American and Caribbean region.”
Guyana will oppose top seed Barbados in the opening match of the tournament on November 7 in Port-of- Spain.
The players named are: (goalkeepers) Alisa Xavier, Tonza Sarrabo, (defenders) Trisha Woodroffe, Sonia Gordon, Tiffany Solomon, Tricia Fiedtkou, Shameeza Mohamed, Marisha Rodrigues (midfield players), Sonia Jardine, Maria Munroe, Cora Towler, Amanda Garnett, (strikers)Ulrica Sutherland, Carol Caine, Kerensa Fernandes and Avonda James.
The standbys are Makini Harry and Vanessa Pires.
Thirty-four players are currently training with the men’s squad which is expected to be trimmed before the end of this month.
