[www.inewsguyana.com] – The fourth annual Hikers Hockey Club Junior Indoor Tournament kicked off on Friday evening at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue with some intense action.
In the Woodpecker Products under 21 division, the GCC girls team showed their strength in depth by disposing of Old Fort 9-0 and Hikers 3-1 despite the absence of a number of their national players.
Ashley DeGroot’s clinical finishing and Aliyah Gordon’s blistering pace gave the Bourda girls a flying start in their title defense. Hikers’ Latacia Chung also made her presence felt on opening night scoring twice in her club’s 3-0 defeat of Old Fort.
On the boys side a much improved GCC put away Saints with relative ease 3-0 before battling to a 2-2 draw with a talented Old Fort side led by the magical stick work of Omar Hopkinson.
Defending boys champions Hikers, also signaled their intentions of retaining their title with efficient 5-1 and 7-1 victories over Old Fort and Saints respectively. The business end of this category will take place on Sunday afternoon starting at 14:00hrs.
The tournament will conclude Sunday with the very competitive iNet Communication under 16 categories followed by the conclusion of the Woodpecker Products under-21 category.
The tournament is being run by the junior players of the Hikers and Saints Hockey Clubs as part of their junior development programs, where youngsters learn all the intricacies of pulling off a tournament of this magnitude.
In addition to playing in the tournament, junior players are responsible for performing the duties of judges and umpires for all the games in addition to organizing and staffing the food and drinks bars. The presentation ceremony will take place on Sunday evening at 18:45hrs.
