Fernandes satisfied with GHB/DMW tourney

PRESIDENT of the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) Philip Fernandes said he is very pleased with the execution of the just concluded 6th Annual Diamond Mineral Water (DMW) international indoor Hockey Festival.

The annual DMW Festival concluded its sixth annual staging on Sunday last with a cracking men’s final between the victorious Hikers and the worthy opponents Old Fort.

From noon on the final day, the event was closely fought with many of the semifinals and final matches going to the wire – decisions coming in the final minutes of the game.

The excited crowd was treated to a dazzling array of skills in a festival that displayed some of the best hockey in the history of the indoor game locally.

In an invited comment, Fernandes, expressed great satisfaction with the execution of the tournament and gave high praise to what he called a hard-working and capable team of organisers who are the best that he has worked with to date.

Fernandes noted that the committee of Devin Hooper, Ivor Thompson, Alisia Katideen, Dwayne Scott, Lawrence Farley, Chris Woodroffe, Troy Peters, Gregory Sills, Rawl Davson and Brian Asregado all worked behind the scenes and such persons rarely receive the recognition they deserve.

“A successful international event doesn’t happen by chance,” Fernandes said, “our organising committee dedicated a lot of time and introduced new ideas this year that changed the festival in a positive way.”

Fernandes noted that among the differences this year to the festival was the adjusted schedule that allowed for more teams to visit other parts of the country.

In the past teams were tied to a schedule that required them to play on each of the four evenings which made it very difficult for players to go sightseeing and to enjoy the wonderful tourism opportunities that Guyana has to offer.

This year better use was made of the morning hours which afforded extra time on Saturday afternoon for excursions.

While a total of five teams visited our shores this year, this number is below that of the two previous years when seven and six teams visited respectively.

The organising committee, according to Fernandes, deliberately set out to adjust the format in order to make return visits more attractive.

Players, officials and supporters now have more than hockey to talk about upon leaving this year’s festival and already indications are positive that next year’s festival could be one of the largest ever.

The GHB benefited greatly this year from the assistance of the Guyana Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism along with the Guyana Red Cross and the usual support from the Guyana Olympic Association and Ministry of Sport.

The Festival boasted more sponsors this year than in the past as, apart from long-standing brands in Diamond Mineral Water, Carib, Chico Sweets, GT&T and De Abreu’s Creations, this year’s event saw the addition of Igloo Ice-cream, Jerries Snackette, Flora Margarine, Scotiabank and Bounty Farm Ltd.

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