16th Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival commences today

The 16th staging of the Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival commences today, Thursday, December 1st, at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Homestretch Avenue in Georgetown from 18:00 hrs. However, the action begins from 15:00hrs on December 2nd, 13:00hrs on December 3rd, and 11:00 hrs on the final day of December 4th.

This tournament is the brainchild of Joseph ‘Reds’ Perreira, who, upon visiting Guyana in 2003, met with the Guyana Hockey Board and encouraged them to stage an annual international hockey festival. Being a huge proponent of sports tourism, Reds thought the Guyanese sporting bodies needed to do more to attract foreign athletes to our shores. The Guyana Hockey Board took up the challenge and secured the volunteer services of former national hockey player Troy Hugh Peters to be the tournament’s coordinator.

Eighteen years later, this Festival has grown into one of the premier indoor hockey events in the region, and attracts top-club teams and players from the Pan-American region. Over the years, the festival has had its challenges, and has not been staged when renovations were ongoing at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall in 2012, and then again during the restrictive COVID-19 times.

This year, the mighty Queen’s Park men’s contingent return to compete in the men’s Veterans over-35 and the Guinness Masters over-45 divisions. The over-35s will be the first foreign side on show as they take on the Antonio Hikers at 19:30hrs on the opening night.

The Trinidad Police make their debut this year with large male and female contingents. The TT Police men will be on show for the final match of the evening on Thursday, when they take on the recent GTT National Indoor Champions Bounty GCC.

The Police ladies would likewise face local national champs the GBTI GCC Tigers in the TLC ladies’ division at 20:10hrs.

This tournament will feature 18 teams, of which 6 foreign teams are included. Besides, four players from Canada and two from the USA would be on show as guest players among the local sides, adding to the international flare of the festival.

Demerara Distillers Limited, through their Diamond Mineral Water brand, have been the mainstay of the festival, and have been the title sponsors since inception of the festival in 2004. Local freight-forwarding company TLC Guyana Inc, sponsors of the women’s division, are new to the sport locally; while Guinness, more popular with football, are welcome sponsors of the Masters division.