… pays courtesy call on Venezuelan Ambassador Dario Morandy
SOME of the players from Guyana’s squad for the 2010 Pan American Indoor Hockey Championships, set for Barquisimeto, Venezuela, August 9-15, yesterday paid a courtesy call on Ambassador Dario Morandy at the Venezuelan Embassy in Georgetown.
The team headed by manager and former national player Gavin Hope, where urged by Ambassador Morandy, to make use of their time in the country which he says is known to be one of the happiest places on earth.
Ambassador Morandy also spoke of his country’s unique culture and way of life and encouraged the Guyanese to not be afraid to interact and learn the Venezuelan way of life in the country of approximately 26 million people.
Known for having one of the world’s largest oil and natural gas reserves, Venezuela will be a place the Guyanese will never forget according to the Ambassador, especially being in the city of Barquisimeto.
Speaking through an interpreter, Hockey he said “is not one of our popular sports. In Venezuela, baseball and football are our national sports. If you go around Venezuela, a lot of people wouldn’t know about hockey. It’s like me asking about baseball in Guyana, the people wouldn’t know but in the Barquisimeto, they play the game a lot there”
Meanwhile, Guyana will be looking to redeem themselves having fallen just one point (7-6) shy of finishing third in the 2005 edition of the games in Canada, losing to the USA in the bronze medal game.
Seven members of the 2005 team (Jerazeno Bell, Devin Munroe, Shane Samuels, Robert Fernandes, Marvin Danette, Alex Gouveia, and Azad DeAbru) have found themselves on the list of players chasing glory in Venezuela.
Ten teams will compete in this year’s indoor Pan American Hockey Championship, with Guyana grouped with Argentina, Peru, Canada and host Venezuela.
Fellow Caribbean side, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago are grouped with Mexico, Uruguay and the United States of America (USA).
The Guyanese depart these shores today and will overnight in Trinidad and Tobago where they hold a practice session from 16:00 h then play the Trinidadians in a warm-up game before winging off to Venezuela tomorrow.
Guyana’s first match will be against Argentina on the tournament’s opening day to be followed with matches against Canada, Venezuela and Peru in that order.
The Guyana squad reads: Jerazeno Bell, Devin Munroe, Shane Samuels, Robert Fernandes, Marvin Danette, Alex Gouveia, Azad DeAbreu, Robert France, Michael Xavier, Dwayne Scott, Aderemi Simon and Ryan Brandsford while Curdel Yearwood is named as the developmental player.
National coach Timothy McIntosh will be in charge of the side and he will have Renee Edwards as his assistant.