The Guyanese men and women’s national hockey teams have both qualified for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in Barranquilla, Colombia 2018 after some superb performances at the JN Hockey Field in Kingston where they are taking red hot in the qualifiers.
Guyana’s Tamala Glenn (No. 22) scored as Guyana booked a qualifying spot on Saturday
At the start of the qualifiers, it was known that the top two placed teams in each category will have their spots in CAC next year guaranteed and the Guyanese were determined to play in Colombia.
With their showing in Jamaica so far, both teams will be in finals action today against Jamaica’s Men and Women.
The women played their final round robin game on Saturday against Guatemala and won comfortably three goals to nil.
Tamala Glenn who is on her international debut season opened proceedings for Guyana in the 14th minute before the consistent Marzan Fiedtkou slotted home in the 28th leaving Aliyah Gordon to seal the deal for the Guyanese in the 55th minute.
After five games the Guyanese ladies finished undefeated with 11 points, three victories and two draws compared to Jamaica’s 13 points, four victories and a draw.
They will play Jamaica in the final today at 15:30h for the winner’s trophy and the top spot.
Meanwhile, the Guyanese men suffered their first defeat on Saturday against the Jamaicans in a closely contested game that ended 3-2.
Guyana’s Kareem McKenzie shields the ball from a Jamaican player
The Jamaicans were looking as though they would win easily leading at 2-0 deep into the second half after George McGlashen and Kemar Gobern had scored in the fourth and 41st minutes. However, Jamarj Assanah and Aroydy Branford equalized with two quick goals in the 48th and 49th minutes only for Duvaughn Henlon to break Guyanese hearts with the decisive goal in the 51st minute. The teams will clash again today at 18:00h for top honours since both teams will be jetting off to the CAC games next year.
Jamaica finished top of the table after four games with 12 points, four victories while Guyana finished second with three victories, one defeat and 9 points.
In the third vs fourth place ladies’ fixture, Puerto Rico will take on Bermuda and in the men’s competition Puerto Rico will face Guatemala.
