THE NUMBER of teams participating in F&H Printing Establishment Countrywide Dominoes Competition playoff segment for this year has already surpassed the number of qualifying teams for last year- 59.Already, 65 teams have qualified for the playoff segment this year and confirmation of participation is still to be received from Mahdia, Port Kaituma and the New Amsterdam/Canje/Corentyne and Linden areas, while last round matches are being held in Georgetown, making it a possible 72 to 75 teams competing in the playoff stage.
The qualified teams are made up of 28 teams from out of town, 20 teams from the Corporations, and 17 from Georgetown. Some of the teams from out of town are: Double Deuce, Punters (East Coast Demerara); Run Away, Ravi 6 (West Coast Demerara); All Stars.
Police, Limpy Lotto, Upsetters (Bartica); Adventure, Rocket, Big Bird, CH Boyz (Essequibo Coast); Dynamite and Atomic (Essequibo Islands); North West All Stars and Mabaruma Dynamite (Mabaruma) are also part of the out of town competitors.
Some of the teams from the Corporations are: All Seasons Racing Service, Caricom, Guyana Gold Field, Ivan’s Grocery, KTS, Mayor and Town Council, Ministry of Health, Republic Bank, Regal, GT&T, Vidya’s Enterprise, F & H Printing, Global Sea Food, Police Mix, CCI, Up Scale Warriors, Police B and Universal Group.
Some of the teams from Georgetown are: Gangster, Mixup, Providence C7Delta Force, Assassin Phantom, Rage, Lions, Thunder, Scramblers, Transport, Specialist and last year’s champions TNT, who made it into the playoffs after some trying times.
The Playoffs will commence at 17:00hrs (5pm) this Friday at the National Gymnasium, with the March Past being taken by the Director of Sports within the National Sports Commission, Neil Kumar, followed by the judging of the Best Dressed Team and drawing and playing of first round matches.
The “spreading out” drawing system from last year will again be used to making the occurrence of collusion among teams more difficult. Matches will resume at 10.00 hrs on Saturday, with fixtures being given out to the respective teams on Friday evening to ensure adherence to time on Saturday, while the same will be done Saturday evening to facilitate for Sunday’s matches.
The coordinators warned that it is the responsibility of team Captains to ensure that at least they are present for the draw and receipt of fixtures, with teams who will be affected by bridge openings being asked to take note.
The Sponsor will like to take the opportunity to thank all the teams for participating, particularly those that did not make it to the playoffs: Kumar, Ministry of Culture Youth and Sport, All Season Racing Service, Kings Advertising, Courts Guyana Ltd and Dave Persaud of Trinidad, to ensure the successful hosting of this event, which F&H, as part of its corporate responsibility, has committed to hosting annually.