By Avenash Ramzan
The Inter-Guiana Goodwill Games got underway on Friday afternoon with mixed fortunes for Guyana’s volleyballers at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue.
While the male team- defending IGG champions- completely outplayed Suriname, the females were simply annihilated by the Dutch-speaking nation in the first round.
In male action, the Guyanese maintained their stranglehold over Suriname, whom they defeated in the 2014 final (the last time IGG was held), easing to a 25-14, 25-17, 25-10 win, much to the delight of a vociferous home crowd.
The Guyanese were aggressive from the opening whistle, racing to a 7-1 lead in the early minutes, before Suriname had a brief period where they led the scoring with a 4-2 run.
However, a five-point margin was the closest they came to taking the lead, as Guyana closed out the set with ease, winning by 11 points.
In the next two sets, the Guyanese were dominant, displaying their skills in blocking as the successfully prevented several scoring opportunities created by the Surinamese. Reflecting on the game, Head Coach of Guyana, Levi Nedd, said “frankly, it’s one down, two to go.”
“It’s not finished as yet. As I was telling the guys, while we have built our confidence today we hope to continue the same performance and even better, because we have seen our mistakes. I’m extremely happy and I hope that we can retain the championship,” Nedd told News Room Sport.
Quizzed on same areas that may need improvement going forward, Nedd explained, “The distribution, in a number of ways, we have to work on that. It’s just the player-to-player distribution in terms of the setter/spiker relationship. That is important.”
Meanwhile, the females had the worst possible start to the Games, losing in straight sets (25-12, 25-12, 25-13) to the neighbouring Dutch-speaking nation.
Nedd said, “While Suriname’s focus is on females, it’s vice versa in Guyana, so obviously Suriname would be better. But I trust that we can upkeep the preparation of females, and one day we will get there too.”
The volleyballers will be action again tomorrow (Saturday) with action from 15:00h to 19:00h at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue.
Photo caption: Action between Guyana (yellow) and Suriname
