Hockey, netball and volleyball will be featured in the Digicel Triple Sport Fiesta on Saturday, June 9th at the National Gymnasium, starting at 18:00 hours.
Digicel’s Public Relations Officer, Shonette Moore said that the Triple Fiesta provides an opportunity for camaraderie among participants in the three sporting disciplines. She said too that it is an opportunity for the public to learn the techniques of the various sports as the players work on enhancing their individual disciplines.
Moore said that this is an exciting time for the cell phone giant as the company has been involved in sports since it was launched a few years back.
“We also continue to seek ways to develop sports inGuyana. So we see this as a unique opportunity to showcase three of Guyana’s leading sports and to also see some of the best teams compete against each other.”
Patrons, Moore noted, will have an opportunity to cash in on a number of offers on that day also.
Asked why the three disciplines were selected, Moore said that the company selected sports which they believe will work well together.
“We also got some reviews from persons and the interest was for volleyball, hockey and netball. Time and the facility also played a factor.”
Secretary of the Guyana Netball Association Shanomae Pierce-Baptiste said that the decision to have the senior team participate in the tournament was an easy one as it allows the girls a chance to test their skills as they prepare for the Americas Federation of l Netball Associations (AFNA) in Trinidad to be played in July.
“They will be competing against some of the more seasoned netball players and it will also give some of our younger players the opportunity to match skills with the seniors as well.”
Main event
Nicholas Fraser, Secretary of the Guyana Volleyball Federation, said that two of the top teams in the country will be participating in the main event. “We are also planning to have some preliminary matches … we haven’t yet gotten down to the final four but for the main event we will have the match between Young Achievers and Port Mourant Training School.”
He said that the Volleyball Federation has always tried its best to cooperate with other sporting disciplines as well as the corporate community of which Digicel is a part. “We do see this as an important feature and we are pleased to see that hockey is back with us. We have had a good relationship in the last six months to a year and we look forward to be partnering with netball.”
Representing the Guyana Hockey Board was Vice President Rawl Davson who said that the board was grateful to Digicel for coming up with such a programme and they were indeed elated to be a part of it alongside netball and volleyball.
“We would be having two sets of competitions – a ladies section which would feature Guyana’s top team Hikers and GCC. For the men’s competition we have singled out Old Fort who is the defending champions for the Diamond Mineral Water, which is an international tournament that we normally have and they will compete against Hikers, who are the winners of the Bryden’s Indoor tournament which concluded on Sunday.”
Moore said that it is the aim of the company to make the event an annual one, but that is dependent on the success on July 9th.
“We haven’t even begun as yet and it already seems that it will be a success, so it is something that will definitely be on for the next coming year.”
Moore who did not want to disclose the expenses associated with the event, said that over $200,000 in cash and prizes will be up for grabs. She also said that apart from that, cash donations will be presented to the individual associations on the day of the event. Meanwhile, Digicel’s Head of Marketing Jacqueline James said that many people are accustomed to hockey being showcased, not volleyball and netball and this is the perfect opportunity for the public to see all three in the same venue.
“It will be free entrance and we are encouraging the public to come out and support the various teams and I am sure they will know someone from their community who will be participating. It is a great and exciting time and you don’t know where hockey, volleyball and netball will be taken from here on.”
