Hikers Women, GBTI GCC, Saints, Bounty GCC bag wins

…As First-Division Hockey tournament opens with pomp and splendour

Hockey came to the spotlight on Sunday evening, as the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) commenced its annual Farfan & Mendes and Woodpecker Products Men’s and Women’s First-Division Leagues at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
The games will start at 16:00h with the game day set for every Sunday, featuring six teams with defending men’s and women’s champions GBTI and Bounty GCC, Woodpecker Hikers, Saints, Pepsi Hikers, and YMCA Old Fort.
The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr, at the launch ceremony, urged the participants to carry the sport nationally throughout the entire country with indoor facilities being constructed.
“I am confident that hockey has the potential, but it cannot move forward in the space that it is right now to become a real national sport with just being based here and just the numbers you have here, so how Governments function and how we have to respond it’s a numbers game. The numbers if you have a really large constituency, we have no choice but to respond and that is why I’m putting out a challenge to all of the teams that you have here and to the federation and I know there are many people who have been in this sport for a long time, but I know you guys have been connected to the sport for a very long time and a sport you have given everything as part of your passion towards the development of the sport, now you have a very special and golden opportunity and I’m going to encourage all of the senior players to start to work with the federation so that you can develop clubs outside of the clubs that you have right now,” Ramson shared.

The Sport Minister added, “I am giving you also the commitment to also the purchasing of hockey gear that you can use towards the distribution into other communities once I know that the clubs that we have here have taken on a role and responsibility to see that those clubs are sustained and develop trajectory because the investment that we’re making and that you’re making must give its return and the returns, is that you need to take your sport national.”
In the night’s first match, the Woodpecker Hikers Women performed to secure their first win against YMCA Old Fort with a scoreline reading 4-0.
Hikers’ Trinity Greaves was phenomenal in the field, breaking the momentum of the Fort to score the first goal in the 23’ followed by her teammate Jasmine Assanah striking the puck at the back of the 34’.
The second match of the night saw the GBTI GCC starting off their campaign on high to secure a win against Saints Women with the scoreline at the end of the game 2-1.
The game started off with both teams sharing the attempts on goal; the goalkeepers were phenomenal, but Paige Fernandes managed to put the GCC outfit up as she scored in the 19’ followed by a strike in the final quarter of the game in the 55’.
Tekiesha Deleon with a strike in the 58’ managed to give their team hope of a comeback, but was eventually the lone goal scorer for the Saints Women.
The Saints Men with an exhilarating performance bagged their first win against the pulsating Pepsi Hikers, with one goal being the decider with the score 2-1.
The Hikers showed the young and exhilarating Saints the power of experience as they managed to pass the ball through their defences as Shane Samuels scored in the 3’.
Under the leadership of National Coach Robert Fernandes, the Saints outfit kept their composure and pierced the Hikers’ defence on two occasions with Baraka Garnett in the 36’ and Javid Hussain in the 43’.
The night’s final match saw the Bounty GCC starting off their campaign on high to secure a win against YMCA Old Fort Men with the scoreline at the end of the game 2-1.
The game started off with both teams sharing the attempts on goal; the goalkeepers were phenomenal, but Warren Williams managed to put the YMCA outfit up as she scored in the 30’. Meshach Sargeant for GCC replied with a strike in the final quarter of the game in the 44’ and another goal from Dwayne Scott for the GCC secured the win in the 63’.(Omar McKenzie)