After doing battle over the last weekend, the Club 75 Fifth Memorial Competition has entered its final stage and according to coordinator Colin McEwan, come Sunday one of the five remaining teams will be crowned local dominoes kings. Speaking exclusively to Stabroek Sport, McEwan said that the 22-team competition was one of high standards. He said that while 20 teams initially qualified two East Coast of Demerara teams, R&R and Turning Point “A”, made it into the competition at the last moment.
The competition which is being played in seven rounds saw in round one, six teams from Georgetown being knocked out – Turning Point “B”, Trouble Shooters, Exodus, Upset, Strikers, and Mean Machine – and one from West Bank Demerara, Onassis, thereby reducing the field to 15 teams. The second round which was also played last Saturday saw an additional five teams being knocked out from Georgetown – Reflection Bar and F&H Supremes, from East Coast Demerara – Bottom End and Tricky Baby – and Shattas from the West Bank of Demerara.
On Sunday a further two rounds were played with five more teams being knocked out in round three – from Georgetown Taurus lost, from the East Coast it was Survival Run and from the combined team of West Bank and West Coast Demerara, Warriors also went out leaving seven teams standing in the competition.
In round four. from the East Coast Wild Bunch and R&R lost, leaving five teams in what began as a 100 team inter-zone competition.
The zone format saw Georgetown fielding 10 teams, West Bank and West Coast combined four teams, East Bank, Lower East Coast, Upper East Coast and East Coast Combined fielding two teams each, making a total of 22 teams.
According to Coordinator McEwan, “the tournament had a good build up and it was one of the most competitive competitions witnessed”. It was a trouble free competition as good sportsmanship was displayed by all of the teams that took part and especially those that lost.” Meanwhile the race for the $200,000 first prize has tightened up as only five teams now remain in the tournament: from Georgetown Specialist, West Bank and West Coast Combined Frankies and Lumber, East Coast Turning Point “A” and East Bank Providence.
The competition is being run off in memory of Leslie Thompson, Carl Moffett, Ego Griffith and William “Natty” Fraser and since it started in 2003 it has become an annual event on the dominoes calendar.
And Double Six time, according to McEwan, is 14:00 hrs on Sunday when the final three rounds will be completed with one team each going out in round five and six. Then comes the round that would decide which team is crowned champion and will also be recognized as the number one team in Guyana.
The finals will be played at Turning Point Sports Club.
The competition is being run off under the auspices of the Guyana Dominoes Association (GDA) and their rules are being used to govern the competition.
The competition started over six weeks ago on July 22.
