THE first Day of Interaction organised by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport/National Sports Commission was held last Sunday at the Enterprise Community Centre ground, East Coast Demerara.

The activity, which was extremely successful, saw approximately seven hundred athletes and spectators, from the young to the elderly, fill every available space, The day’s proceeding commenced at 09:30hrs and concluded at 17:50hrs.
Director of Sport, Neil Kumar, addressed all present, recounting the Ministry’s development for sports and the plans and programmes for further development.
Also present were Dr Pradeep Balram, member of the National Sports Commission and vice-president of the Guyana Table Tennis Association, Mr Shaun Richmond, member of the National Sports Commission and Mr Balkissoon, former Caribbean junior table tennis champion.
The games were softball cricket (juniors, female and seniors), football, volleyball (male and female) dominoes and table tennis.
The disciplines were keenly contested as the results throughout the day were all close and exciting.
The large crowd stayed all day to encourage their respective teams and to cheer them on to victory.
The weather was conducive for sports and the athletes took advantage of the conditions and delighted the large crowd with superb play.
Softball cricket started off the day’s proceedings. History was created when 13 school teams registered and participated fully in the day’s activities.
After some exciting matches, the reigning champions Bladen Hall Multilateral School went up against Mahaica Youths in the final of the junior category and were dethroned.
In the female version, three teams participated including newcomers, Golden Grove Secondary, who fought well with the mighty Enterprise All Stars. In the final Enterprise All Stars defeated Enterprise Warriors, through national player Kavita Yadram’s splendid performance.
In the senior category, eleven teams competed.
In the preliminary games, the two consistent teams, J.J.S.S Family and Mahaica Super Stars, faced off in the final match that went down to the last ball, resulting in J.J.S.S Family, the defending champions, narrowly defeating their opponents.
There were thirty-two table tennis participants including one female and a few seasoned players. The community of Ogle was outstanding as both finalists reside there. In the final, after encouraging performances from all, Vikash Horil outplayed his countryman Jonathan Narine to win the trophy.
In the Doubles, Gavin Persaud teamed up with Richard Jagassar and outplayed Rayan Narine and Arvind Budhan. Both Dr. Balram and Mr Balkisson were very supportive as they assisted in officiating.
The Golden Grove girls, who were defeated at cricket, competed against each other at volleyball and ensured that they did not leave empty-handed. The ‘A’ team were successful against the ‘B’ team.
Seven teams were involved in the male category of volleyball. Again, after thrilling preliminaries, Mahaica All Stars beat Helena Youths.
Enterprise outmatched their opponents in the six-team dominoes competition. Enterprise Canteen with 32 games and Enterprise Centre with 30 games relegated Enmore into the third position with 27 games.
Rohan Mohan was voted the Most Valuable Player of the competition.
Seven colourfully-uniformed teams took to the football field and demonstrated their skills, talents, and knowledge in the game.
The matches were played at eleven-a-side with small goals. There was not much space for players to outdo one another.
In the thrilling final, which went down to penalties, reigning champions Bladen Hall Multilateral needled Paradise Secondary one-nil in sudden death.
At the presentation ceremony, the Director of Sport Neil Kumar thanked the communities for their support by way of participation and encouraged them to continue their involvement in sports. He congratulated the winners for being outstanding.
The Director of Sport was also high in praise for the organisers (staff of the NSC) for organising such a successful and rewarding Day of Interaction.
Several teams went away with sports equipment and seemed ready to continue playing sports in their respective communities.
All the winning teams received beautiful trophies and went away extremely happy.