PRESIDENT of the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB), Phillip Fernandes, has lauded the tremendous support of the Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Charles Ramson Jr, through his Ministry, for the successful completion of the first-of-its-kind One Guyana Indoor Hockey Competition on Sunday last at the National Gymnasium.

Fernandes said the indoor competition saw the teams bringing their A-game, with the Men’s U-19 final requiring a double sudden-death penalty shoot-out to determine the winner.
“It is the first competition for the year, although we had some international engagement, and the first local competition for the year and it was very keenly contested, the level was high, I guess teams had been training in preparation for this and in the men’s competition especially, the level of competitiveness was present for all teams, the matches were all close and both finals went down to the wire,” Fernandes stated.

He added that with challenges to find grass surfaces to play competitions this year, the Guyana Hockey Board was ecstatic for the support of the Ministry to pull the competition off at the National Gymnasium.

“Hockey had challenging years because the rains has been so unpredictable and we have not gotten sufficient break in between downpours for the typical hockey season for grounds to be ready for outdoor competition, as a result we reached out to the Ministry to secure the National Gymnasium for One Guyana Indoor competition and it was very welcomed when we received the approval and the teams and players were able to showcase their skills,” Fernandes noted.

In the men’s final between Pepsi Hikers and St. Stanislaus College, Hikers pulled out all the stops to edge Saints 3-2.
The women’s final was won by GBTI GCC ladies who overcame their top rivals over the last two years Saints Senior Women 4-0.

Meanwhile the U-19 girls’ category was won by St Stanislaus who defeated GCC Spartans 4-nil with goals from Hadassah Fraser, Kaiyra Scott, Kazaquah Uzzi and Makaylah Poole.
In the men’s U-19 category, a sudden-death penalty shoot-out was needed to separate Saints Snipers and GCC Outlaws. The match ended 5-4 in favour of Snipers.