THE Guyana Hockey Board (GHB) yesterday unveiled a plastic floor laid at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall as part of their preparations to host the Pan American Indoor Hockey championships 2017.

Presented to the media yesterday, the floor, which can function for many disciplines including basketball, futsal and volleyball will be used for the showpiece tournament.
Addressing the media, GHB president Philip Fernandes contended that the floor is similar to what is used in North America and after a meeting with the Director of Sport Christopher Jones, approval was given to import and lay the tiles.
“Hockey has been in the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall for some time and then it was moved to the National Gymnasium because of the inadequacy of the floor. While the floor was in good condition for many other sports like basketball etc, for hockey, it required an absolutely true surface and the wooden floor posed some challenges for us,” the GHB boss said.

Fernandes added, “One of the requirements we had to assure the Pan American Federation that is that whilst we have a great facility, here, is that we can in fact correct the problem of the floor and improve the surface for the hockey ball to roll on.”
He noted that in the coming weeks, the floor will be tested to the limit to ensure a flawless performance at the games in just over two months’ time.
The sport director, who was also on hand for yesterday’s visit, noted that the quality of the tiles will ensure that several other disciplines, in the long run, can use the surface for practice and tournaments.
“Of course, the sport commission was only very supportive of this to ensure that every opportunity that presented itself would ensure that Guyana is able to host these games,” Jones said.

He noted that the return of hockey to the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall now means that there is a slot opened for another discipline at the National Gymnasium and the NSC is considering futsal.
The floor features boundary lines for futsal, basketball and volleyball as well as hockey at the moment and has already been fully laid at the Homestrech Ave venue.
Meanwhile the October tournament will feature seven teams, namely Guyana, Argentina, Barbados, Canada, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago and the USA with all of them strong contenders for the gold although Canada remain the favourites having won the competition a record four times out of six.
Guyana have competed on three occasions in this competition, resulting in a 4th place finish in 2005, fifth place in 2010 and their best showing, 3rd place in the last competition held in 2014 in Montevideo, Uruguay.