..Guyana aiming for semi-final place on debut

PRESIDENT of the Guyana Hockey Board, Phillip Fernandes, is optimistic about the country’s masters team’s chances at the Indoor Hockey World Cup set to bully off tomorrow in Nottingham, England.

‘Preparations have been good; however, we did have some difficulty as Guyana at the moment is lacking good indoor facilities to train indoor hockey players with the ongoing refurbishment of the National Sports Hall.’

Fernandes says they have adjusted to the circumstances and have put in good work as they embark on their debut campaign at the Masters Indoor World Cup.

‘We have good experience , players who know how to play the game, who have been in competition and in [a] competitive environment like this and I expect we will make a good showing. They are varying degrees of optimism; a semi-final berth would be a good success for us.’

Guyana’s team since landing in London on Monday has had their first scrimmage and warm-up session against a USA over-35 team on Tuesday, as they get accustomed to the conditions.
Guyana is fielding a team in the Over-45 category in the competition organised by the World Masters hockey from March 28 to April 1.

The World Cup features male and female national teams from around the world, competing in the Over 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 age groups and is the largest ever, with 42 men’s teams and 33 women’s teams.

Guyana will come up against teams from Germany, France, England, Canada, Bangladesh, Australia and Wales.

Guyana will first come up against Canada in their opening match on Thursday, 28th March at 18:00hrs, before taking on England on Friday, and will complete the pool round against Wales on Saturday.

Guyana has a strong team on paper, boasting four former national captains in Ian Nicholson, Alan and Philip Fernandes along with Devin Munroe

The overseas players are Marc King (Canada), Captain Jerazeno Bell (Jamaica) and goalkeeper Gregory Garraway (Trinidad)

The other members of the team include goalkeeper Azad DeAbreu, Devin Hooper, Chris Low-Koan, Ivor Thompson, Devin Munroe, Dwayne Scott and Alan and Phillip Fernandes, all former national players

The team is being coached by former Canadian International, Jonathan Roberts The Manager is Allan Newark, Assistant Manager Jeremy Roberts and Assistant Coach George Melville.