PLAY IN this year’s 11th edition of the Guyana Hockey Board/Diamond Mineral Waters International Hockey Festival this evening at the National Gymnasium with two of the defending category champions doing battle.In female play – the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) Tigers come against Hikers in the opening gameat 17:30hrs, while the Hikers take on GCC in a Veterans clash.
The male division is wide open after the defending champions Revamp Hockey Club out of Canada and the losing finalist Queen’s Park Hockey Club out of Trinidad and Tobago are not competing in this year’s tournament.
There is however, one team in Renegades who could prove to be the twist in the male division, as they are a combination of foreign and local players who are not playing for their club teams.
That aside, this Festival should be a repeat of the 2014 Guyana Telephone and & Telegraph Indoor Tournament where all teams have faced each other hence they all know the strengths and weaknesses of each other.
The last time the GCC Tigers met Hikers, the former came out on top 9-0 and Hikers will be looking to erase that bad memory and get back on the ball in this prestigious tournament, especially since the Tigers are four times champions in the female category and will be hunting a fifth title.
The second women’s game will see Old Fort taking on Spice, the second lethal unit out of GCC, with the Spice Girls going under to the Tigers in the GT&T final.
Old Fort will have an uphill battle against Spice on the surface and they too will be looking to avenge their lost to the GCC second string team-if they can be described as such- hence OPld Fort will be having a number of debutants for this encounter.
Game three which bullies off at 19:10hrs, is a Veteran clash between defending champions Hikers and the newly crowned indoor champions in GCC, another matchup which should prove to be exciting, especially since the winner can go onto claim glory in this tournament.
One should not count out Old-Old Fort, who were a losing finalists to GCC a few weeks back, while there is also, Caribs Hockey Club out of Trinidad who will be competing as the fourth Veterans teams in the tournament.
Three Men’s Matches are on – GT&T 2014 champs Hikers and four time winners play St. Stanislaus College (Saints). If Hikers maintain the level of play they should just over a month ago – then a fifth title could be within grasp.
At 20:50 – GCC takes on the Renegades and the final clash of the night will feature Old Fort taking on the National Under-21s – a combination of players from all the local teams.
The winners in the Men’s and Women’s division take home US $1,000 with US $500 to the losing finalists while the Veterans will take away US$500 in the Festival which will run until this Sunday, having a total of six teams are in the Men’s division and four each competing out of the Women’s and Veterans categories respectively.

(By Leeron Brumell)