President of the Guyana Volleyball Federation (GVF) John Flores believes that Guyana has what it takes to retain the Inter-Guiana Games volleyball title when they play Suriname this weekend.
During a brief interview yesterday ahead of the IGG, the navy commander told Stabroek Sport that he was backing both the male and female teams to emerge victorious.
Both the male and female teams have been encamped leading up to the games and Flores said that while the women are less experienced than the men, he was certain they would give a good account of themselves over the three-day period.
“The female side has new players from around the country and I’m hoping the women will be playing well because this year I think we have a fitter batch of ladies who I believe will give good accounts of themselves,” he said.
Regarding the male team which has been a force over recent years both locally and overseas,
Flores was adamant that the senior players will successfully retain the trophy on home soil.
“The males are doing well. They’re the defending champions and they have been playing good in recent times so I expect them to keep doing very well. I would say at the youth level there was an expansion, because years ago if you had 20 people turnout at trials you had a lot. This year we had 80, so we had a wide choice,” he added.
Flores said preparations have been going well from a holistic perspective leading up to the competition and confirmed that the final squads for both teams will be released shortly.
The volleyball matches between defending champs Guyana and Suriname will begin on Friday at the National Gymnasium from 13:00hrs and will continue from 15:00hrs on Saturday and Sunday at 13:00hrs.
All athletes will then head to the Lenora facility in observance of the official opening of the IGG games which gets underway from 19:000hrs.
