Junior hockey teams to contest PAHF Jr Challenge in Barbados
Guyana’s Boys’ and Girls’ Under-21 Hockey teams have recently been invited to participate in the upcoming Pan American Hockey Federation’s (PAHF) Junior Challenge being staged in Bridgetown, Barbados from March 9th to 16th, 2025.
The Challenge is an important event on the hockey calendar, as it qualifies teams to participate in the second ever Junior Pan American Games, scheduled for August 9th to 22nd in Asuncion, Paraguay, where more than 3,800 athletes are expected to compete across 31 sports.
Along with host country Paraguay, which has received an automatic spot in the Junior Pan Am Games, top nations Argentina, Canada, Chile and USA have already qualified for the Games. In addition, Mexico for the boys and Uruguay for the girls have also qualified by being among the highest placed finishers in the 2024 PAHF Junior Championships which was held in Canada.
A look at Guyana’s Under-21 players’ hockey preparation thus far
With two spots remaining in each eight-team competition, Guyana must emerge as one of the top two finishers to secure a spot in the Junior Pan American Games.
Guyana’s boys are expected to compete against hosts Barbados, Brazil, Trinidad & Tobago, Guatemala and Venezuela. Of these teams, Guyana has only recently competed against Barbados and Brazil, and has finished above both teams in the 2023 Junior Pan American Championships.
Guyana’s girls are expected to compete against Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Guatemala, Puerto Rico and Mexico. They
got the better of Barbados two years ago, but have not faced any of the other nations before.
Selection for both squads was recently concluded, with 27 boys and 23 girls having been selected to train before the squads are narrowed to a final 16 players each in early February. The boys’ squad will lean heavily on the experience of the eight players who were part of the last junior national team that placed 5th at the 2023 Junior Pan Am Championships.
Guyana’s Male and Female U21 teams are preparing for the PAHF Junior Challenge in March
The girls, meanwhile, would benefit from four overseas-based players with international experience in Sarah Klautky, Madison and Georgiana Fernandes, and Charlia Webb being alongside locally-based players Kirsten Gomes and Clayza Bobb.
The full squads selected are as follows:
BOYS – Donnel Alleyne, Shaquon Favorite, Kallel Ferreira, David Massiah, Simeon Moore, Yonnick Norton, Jose Rodrigues, Nkosi Saul, Quinn Tobin, Daniel Woolford, Darious Alleyne, Clay Bobb, Keeland Cummings, Oswald Fraser, Navid Hussain, Javid Hussain, Jabari Lovell, Robert Marcus, Naresh Mohadeo, Jabez Walters, Baraka Garnett, John Dias, Grant Fernandes, Anthony Harry, Alex Peniston, Lucas Sargeant and Vladimir Woodroffe.
GIRLS – Kadence Belony, Rebecca Bento, Africo Blackman, Clayza Bobb, Solana Crum-Ewing, Georgiana Fernandes, Madison Fernandes, Rebecca Ferreira, Hadassah Fraser, Sueann Fraser, Kirsten Gomes, Kendra Gordon, Trinity Greaves, Sarah Harry, Tinashe Henry, Sarah Klautky, Sara Matthias, Hannah Percival, Keitanna Percival, Makaylah Poole, Ameriah Sahadeo, Kazaquah Uzzi and Charlia Webb.
