There is a quote by the famous writer William Shakespeare that goes, “The end crowns all and that old common arbitrator, Time, and will one day end it.”
That quote aptly describes the conclusion of this year’s Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival at the Cliff Anderson sports hall.
The tournament started last Thursday and featured seven men, three women, and four veteran teams all vying for top honours in their respective divisions.
As expected the men’s tournament was very competitive and the race to the championship trophy is still wide open.
Up to press time, only two teams were unbeaten; local side Old Fort who came in as the underdogs and the debutant Notre Dame from Trinidad and Tobago with Kwandwane Brown at the helm.
Those two teams so far have shown that they are hungry for the trophy and the monetary incentive that is up for grabs. But local sides GCC and defending Champions Everest Hikers are not counted out of the race just yet.
Both teams have played three matches up to the time of this report and have only lost one game, Hikers who lost on the opening day to Notre Dame, bounced back to thrash fellow local side western Dragons 11-3 on day two then beat them again yesterday 13-4.
GCC bounced back from losing to Old Fort to beat last year’s finalist Malvern of Trinidad and Tobago 5-3. Yesterday they made light work of Paradise also of the Twin Island Republic 6-0.
On the ladies side, the visiting GOA team from Canada seemed poised to claim their first title. They are the only undefeated team in that division having brushed aside defending champions GCC on the opening night.
Last evening they did the same to local women’s team Everest Hikers.
But the GCC ladies were able to bounce back and beat the Hikers on the second day while Hikers returned the favor last evening avenging their loss to their local rivals.
The veterans’ category is poised for a big showdown between defending champions Fatima of Trinidad and the local Old Fort team.
Both sides have so far has demolished their other opponents by considerable margins. Today’s action is set to start 10am s with the conclusion of the preliminary round matches while the Veterans final is set for 4:30 pm.
That match will be followed by the ladies’ and then the men’s finals.
