Diamond Mineral Water Hockey Festival set to bully off
Defending men’s champions Hikers will start as pre tournament favourites when the Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival opens this evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The reigning champions will open their defence with two matches on the opening night and should receive a stern test from YMCA of Barbados who will be making their tournament debut.
The Hikers side will take on local side Western Dragons, second division winners of the just concluded GT&T National Indoor championships in their opening match billed for 17:00 hours and will return later to oppose YMCA at 20:00 hours.
The National Indoor champions have been training quite hard under the guidance of former national defender Timothy McIntosh. Mc Intosh is also included in the squad which features Jerezeno Bell, Robert Fernandes, Devin Munroe, Alex Gouveia, Shane Samuels, Randy Hope, Azad DeAbreau, Brian Asregado and Shaquille Assannah.
Meanwhile, the GCC Flora women’s players are “fired” up in their quest to retain their title.
They will be coming up against nemesis Hikers female in their opening match.
The Bourda side will have in their line up Sonia Jardine, Trisha Woodroffe, Kerensa Fernandes, Brenette Gordon and Gabriella Xavier.
The tournament will open with GCC taking on Hikers in a veterans’ showdown feature several former nationals in both line-ups at 13:00 hours and that encounter will be followed by YMCA against Old Fort men.
GCC veterans and men’s teams will battle Old Fort sides in both divisions.
Fifteen matches will be played tomorrow while six games will be contested on Saturday.
The packed scheduled is in an effort to give the visiting teams the opportunity to explore several places of interest and to attend a welcome function.
And, financial support for the tournament continues to pour in.
The latest sponsorship came from Scotia Bank Limited who made a presentation to officials of the Guyana Hockey Board yesterday.
Scotia Bank is a regular sponsor of junior programmes and in the past has supported the junior development program of the GHB and the company continues to show an interest in community development through sports.
Scotia Bank Manager of Products and Marketing, Jennifer Cipriani-Nelson, expressed the company’s interest in supporting genuine events that encourage young people to been engaged in meaningful exercises.
Guyana Hockey Board’s Vice President, Rawl Davson, expressed the board’s gratitude to Scotia Bank for its contribution to the festival and to its support of junior hockey throughout the years.
Local telephone giants GT&T had on Tuesday presented an undisclosed financial package and shirts for the officials during a simple ceremony at Telephone House on Brickdam.