THEY came in their hundreds – athletes, officials, supporters, government ministers and officials and regional officers. They came from all over the region to participate in the Day of Interaction (DOI), organised by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport/National Sports Commission at the Anna Regina Community Centre, last Sunday.

From as early as 09:00hrs, persons began assembling from various communities and one hour later, the athletes and officials assembled.
They were addressed by Minister of Sport Dr Frank Anthony, Director of Sport Neil Kumar, Regional Chairman Parmanand Persaud and his deputy Vishnu Somaru, and the Minister within the Ministry of Agriculture Alli Baksh who were all appreciative of the turnout and were united in their praise for a job well done.
Ninety teams from 22 communities across the region participated in the day’s activities which included football, softball cricket, volleyball (male and female), domino and table tennis.
Days before the activity, it rained heavily and consistently, but as the crowd grew bigger, the threatening weather gradually disappeared and the venue was blessed with bright sunshine, which enabled the proceedings to flow smoothly.
Dr Anthony took the opportunity to encourage the region to send two representatives to the Sports Management workshop scheduled for June 18-20 at the National Resource Centre and also advised the Region to submit names of sports personalities to be selected for awards at the annual National Sports Awards Ceremony.
In the Female two-overs cricket matches, four teams battled it out, with Charity Secondary defeating Capoey by nine runs and Tapakuma beating Charity Sports Club in a Super Over, before Tapakuma won the final from Charity Secondary.
Twenty-five teams were listed to compete in the male category and the qualifying matches for the final saw Pomeroon lose to Golden Fleece and Walton Hall defeat Better Success, before Golden Fleece won against Walton Hall in the final.
Volleyball action was hot all day with 14 male teams and 3 female teams, but in the end Charity Sports Club took home the gold in the female competition over Charity Secondary School. Mainstay won the male category over Aurora, with the winning teams receiving volleyballs and volleyball nets along with their trophies.
In the small goal 7-a-side male football tournament there were 10 teams, which saw NOC and Aurora start the competition quite nicely, before Aurora scored a goal in the last minute of play.
The remaining matches were determined by penalty kick-offs and in the final the GDF team were very aggressive against Charity whom they defeated 1-0 and as was done in volleyball, the winning teams got trophies and footballs.
Table tennis had 22 participants from across the region, with the players showcasing exciting matches, resulting in close victories.
In the semi-finals, Raoul Rooplall faced Sachin Persaud of NOC Sports Club, while Nathon Persaud drew the bye and advanced directly to the final, where he met and lost to Sachin Persaud, who had earlier defeated Rooplall, with the finalists receiving trophies and racquets.
Six teams participated in the dominoes competition: GDF, Charity, Bush Lot, Sea Defence Essequibo, Capoey and Reliance.
Three of the teams, Reliance, Charity and GDF made it to the final, where GDF finished in top position over Reliance and Charity. Each team received a box of dominoes and a trophy.
Charity Secondary and Anna Regina Secondary were given circle tennis racquets to develop the game in their schools and at the end of the day an estimated 800 persons participated in another successful DOI.