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Americas

By Michael DaSilva (Stabroek News)

Georgetown Cricket Club hockey team manager Chris Fernandes yesterday showered praises on his team's for an exceptional performance at the just concluded Pan American Club Championships in Barbados.

Guyana placed second in the competition which included teams from the Caribbean, South and North America, losing in the final 4-1 to Jockey Club of Argentina.

Fernandes, a former national player said "the team played exceptionally well, you got to realise we were playing against Argentina (Jockey Club), they are one of the top club teams in Argentina. They were superior to us in many ways".

Argentina is rated among the top countries in the world.

When the two teams met in the preliminary round, Guyana came from three
goals down to secure a 3-3 draw.

"They had scored three early goals in the first half of that game, but we (GCC) did well to fight back in the second half and scored three goals in 12 minutes" Fernandes asserted. He added "We gave them too much respect in that game, but in the final, we played an open game".

According to Fernandes, GCC started the scoring in the 15th minute through his youngest son Stephen, but the Argentineans equalised seven minutes before the end of the first session.

The former president of the Guyana Hockey Board of Control (GHBC) said GCC conceded a short corner in the second half and when the ball was played from the corner to inside the circle, it struck one of the defenders and went into the goal (GCC) allowing Jockey Club to go ahead.

"You can't imagine how congratulatory everyone was, especially since we don't have an artificial pitch (Astro) in Guyana".

Asked to identify GCC's outstanding player/s, Fernandes informed that the Barbadian coach, Peter Norville, singled out Damon Woodruff for special mention. "He said Woodruff is probably the best defence player in the Caribbean," Fernandes disclosed.

Norville is a senior coach in Barbados and is well respected in that country and the rest of the Caribbean.

Fernandes lauded GCC's right wing player Devin Hooper who scored six goals in the tournament including three against the Bermudian team.

"Hooper was exceptional on the right wing, he was just too fast. The two (Woodruff and Hooper) really stood out" Fernandes remarked.

Fernandes was also high in praise for the team's defence which he said was probably the strongest in the tournament.

Rawle Dawson, a senior member of the team said they had a good tour and the astro turf surface did not affect them too much.

"We got used to turf as the tournament progressed" Dawson said.

Dawson is keen on the team participating in next year's tournament and hopes that it will be staged in the West Indies region as the cost of sending a team further would be prohibitive.

"Now that the team has performed creditably we hope the business community will come forward and sponsor the team or individual players to next year's tournament.

GCC will be in action this month end when the GHBC stages its international indoor tournament at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. Several club teams from around the Caribbean have indicated their intention to participate.

The tournament will be sponsored by GT&T.

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