HOCKEY in Guyana has grown from strength to strength this year with several positives according to the Guyana Hockey board president Philip Fernandes.During an interview recently, Fernandes said, “I think 2015 was a good year for hockey. We achieved several milestones that we thought were useful for the game,” as he rated the sport’s performance in 2015.
“First of all on the local scene with the local competition, we did not have as full a season as we had in recent time; the reason being that there were some renovations because the lights weren’t working and so on. Luckily that has been fixed and we have been able to stage two fantastic tournaments.”
The outdoor season had been plagued by its own issues, of course the weather and the unavailability of some players who were involved in the senior programme; nevertheless, we were able to run off the bounty farm one-day tournament which was a good tournament.
He indicated that they were also able to complete last year’s Farfan and Mendez tournament as well as the John Fernandes Insurance tournament.
The president of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) visited for the very first time and he was accompanied by the president of the Pan-American Federation. It has been about 25 years or more since the last person holding that post visited here.”
The GHB boss added that their visit meant for the first time in a long while, proper bilateral talks with regard to the setting-up an artificial turf was held with the international body committing their support to assisting in whatever way it can.
The GHB boss noted, “The new Director of Sport has been very encouraging. He has had several meetings with our federation and we have been talking about some possibilities where Guyana could finally have an artificial surface.
“Those discussions were focused on location and where land is available,” He added.
In closing, Fernandes thanked the sponsors that were on board with hockey in 2015 whether it be grassroots or at the senior level and reminded them that their contributions were invaluable.

By Stephan Sookram