One-Guyana President’s Cup football.

By Calvin Chapman
THE curtains raised on the highly anticipated One-Guyana President’s Cup football tournament yesterday with one match in Essequibo (Region 2) at the Anna Regina Multilateral ground.

The one-sided affair which was witnessed by a fair-sized gathering at the Cottenfield venue, saw Queenstown fire seven unanswered goals past the hapless Suddie goalkeeper, who didn’t get much help from his defence.

Avinash Ramanan led the way for the victors with a hat-trick and he will be looking to continue his rich goal-scoring form with the intention of making the 25-man squad that will represent Region 2 in the second phase of the competiton.

Speaking to Chronicle Sport, he expressed gratitude with the opportunity that this One-Guyana President’s Cup football tournament has given him.

He posited that, “For me to be able throw my hat in the ring (with my performances) and be seen not only in Essequibo but on a national level is very important to me.
Not a lot of football is played in Essquibo and that brings limited opportunity but this tournament changes that. I want to thank the President, Irfaan Ali, for this tournament.”

The first two goals of the match was scored by striker, Mario Walcott, just on the brink of half-time (40th & 42nd minutes) before he eventually left the field with a hamstring injury. Rodney Carter (75th) and James Carter’s strikes, one minute before stoppage time, accounted for the other goals in the rout.

Head of the Essequibo Football Association; Marvin Pearson, shared that, “I believe the One-Guyana President’s Cup is a competition that definitely improve the level of all the players in Essequibo while giving us a platform to be seen. I must thank the Government of Guyana for this wonderful initiative which, I am confident, will be a huge success!”

Matches in the President’s Cup also kicked off in Linden (Region 10), Region 5 and Region 6 yesterday. The results of those games will be featured in a subsequent report.