PRESIDENT of the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB), Philip Fernandes, has hailed the recently concluded Mr Toppers Indoor Championship a huge success.

In an exclusive interview with Chronicle Sport, Fernandes said “the tournament was nothing short of a huge success”. Noting that there were several key factors that were encouraging in terms of the sport’s present condition and of course, even more importantly, its future.

He said while the sport locally suffers from limited numbers among players and officials, actions to improve this seem to be bearing fruit.

The tournament featured three divisions – Men’s A, B and Ladies’.

The men’s first division hockey, which largely comprised the `A’ division, displays some of the highest quality indoor hockey in the Region.

According to Fernandes, Guyana’s top three clubs, Old Fort, GCC and Hikers, not only demonstrates a high level of skill in the game on the local scene but have travelled frequently in recent times to Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados and often gained one of the coveted top three spots on the victors’ podium.

He said in the Mr Toppers tournament, the Men’s final between Hikers and GCC saw not only fierce rivalry and great effort to win, but both teams displayed a good quality of hockey.

“The men’s `A’ division final in Guyana, certainly ranks high among the most entertaining of indoor sports locally,” the former national midfielder boasted.

He accredited national indoor coach, Timothy McIntosh, for introducing new ideas of indoor hockey to Guyana. “He has been the main source of the quality indoor hockey produced by the Hikers.”

McIntosh spent several years in Germany studying.

Germany is the leading indoor hockey nation in the world and, according to Fernandes, that exposure, coupled with his (McIntosh) visit two years ago to Austria where he attended an International Indoor Hockey course during the last indoor World Cup, has augured well for the sport in Guyana.

The business executive also paid credit to the GCC and Old Fort players who have kept abreast in the changing game and have enabled the division as competitive as it is.

He said Old Fort recently suffered major setbacks – losing national goalkeeper Tony Cole to migration and Guyanese Jonathan Roberts who now plays in the Canadian national programme – which hampered their performance in the Mr Toppers tournament; but GCC, sporting what seems to be a new brand of hockey, seem to have the upper hand although it remains difficult to predict the result of the next tournament.

He noted also that a great majority of the players featured in the junior men’s division were under the age of 17 years with Old Fort introducing players from their newly introduced schools programme at North Ruimveldt Multilateral and St Joseph High.

“It was a shot in the arm for an ageing sport that needs to increase its playing population, and heartening to see young talent take the pitch once again.”

Fernandes said the Hikers produced a strong junior contingent of players comprising mostly those who recently visited Trinidad for the Easter Hockey Festival.

Asked to name those young players who stood out during the tournament, Fernandes said: “Young Hikers star Shaquille Assanah showed great quality among the juniors as did team mate Ryan Primo. Despite playing in the `A’ division with the GCC `B’, Eric Hing and Stephen Xavier also showed great promise along with newcomer Donwes Austin from Western Dragons.

“The Ladies’ division featured outstanding performances by several juniors, most notably defender Marzena Fiedtkou who showed a maturity in her game well beyond her 15 years and Alysa Xavier who was largely impenetrable in goal. Michela Harding although recently introduced to the game also showed some promise.