Sports

By Troy Peters The national men’s Under-21 squad will participate in this year’s Diamond Mineral Water (DMW) Hockey Festival and they will collide with Malvern of Trinidad and Tobago in the opening match of the tournament on Thursday afternoon at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

The much talked-about Olympic-size swimming pool to be constructed by the Guyana government seems one step closer to realization with the recent announcement that tenders for its construction would soon be out.

The Mildred Mansfield Youth Club (MMYC) on Durban Street will stage its annual general meeting tomorrow at the club’s headquarters.

The scheduled three-day cricket trial match arranged by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) which was set to commence today has been postponed.

Alonzo Greaves continued his winning ways when he won the eighth annual Diamond Mineral Water-sponsored 50-mile cycle road race on Sunday on the West Bank of Demerara.

Ann’s Grove, led by a double from Orlando Otto, defeated Uprising 3-0 in a Group `A’ match of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Supligen U-20 football match at the Camptown ground on Saturday.

Defending champions Alpha United retained their Premier League title with a 1-0 win over Western Tigers on Sunday in the feature clash of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) Cellink Plus competition at the Georgetown Football Club ground.

Defending champions Berbice easily retained their Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Senior Inter County title yesterday when rain washed out the final day of their clash against Demerara at the Police Sports Club ground Eve Leary.

Pepsi Sonics became the first team to exit the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association super eight knockout competition when they were sent packing by an experienced Nets squad after an intense battle Friday evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

The Berbice leg of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Carib Beer/Pepsi sponsored Twenty20 competition continued last Friday with six matches played in the two zones with the highlight being the innings of Sasenarine Sukhdeo (78), Keith Fraser (73), Peter Grimes (70), Anthony D’Andrade (67) and Farouk Hussain (62*).

Guyanese international central midfielder Shawn Beveney stands on the threshold of creating history by becoming the first local footballer to play professionally in the United Kingdom.

A fine spell of spin bowling from Sauid Drepaul along with incisive fast bowling from Rayon Griffith restricted Berbice to 243-8 in their first innings in reply to Demerara’s 378-7 declared, placing Demerara in a strong position to claim first innings points in the Guyana Cricket Board’s Inter-County final at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary, yesterday.

The Guyana senior selectors yesterday shortlisted a squad of 34 players to participate in two trial matches for possible selection on the national team to participate in the regional Carib Beer four-day competition set to commence on January 4 with Guyana opposing Trinidad and Tobago at Guaracara Park.

SO here we go again. The West Indies set out today on their latest overseas tour, to Zimbabwe and South Africa, under a new captain and coach and a reinstated manager, The captain is Chris Gayle, the ninth in the dozen years since the start of the sickening slide from their extended domination of world cricket, the coach is the Australian John Dyson, also the ninth in that time even though he will make a belated entrance, and the manager is Clive Lloyd, the iconic skipper during the most glorious period of West Indies cricket history.

The Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) began its annual national swimming champions yesterday at the Castallani Pool with several record-breaking performances heating up the four-day competition.

President of the Georgetown Football Association, Troy Mendonca said yesterday the time was ripe for football to have its own ground.

Close to 800 participants are expected to compete in the Annual Physically Challenged Day of Sports organized by the Rotary Club of Georgetown today at Thirst Park.

Junior rider Enzo Matthews, in a time of one hour, 25 minutes and 57.2 seconds won the feature 35-lap race in the Grace Foods International 11-race Cycle programme yesterday at the National Park.

The Guyana Badminton Association (GBA) will run off the Guyana Classic International Junior Tournament between Guyana and Barbados early next month.

After the initial hiccup with rain putting a damper on its opening round matches, the Guyana Secondary Schools Basketball Association’s (GSSBA) league tournament has taken off with a number of exciting match-ups.