The highly anticipated season-ending Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival would not be held this year.
President of the Guyana Hockey Board, Philip Fernandes, confirmed to News Room Sport on Friday that it would not be feasible to have the tournament under the current COVID-19 guidelines.
The tournament, which has over the last 15 years attracted teams from the Caribbean and North America, is one of the major events on the local sport calendar.
Fernandes said a decision was made to cancel the competition this year, given the travel restrictions and measures in place for the hosting of sport events in Guyana.
Under the current guidelines, sport events can resume upon approval from the Minister of Health and the COVID-19 Task Force, however, bars and spectators are not allowed at the venues.
The Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival is sponsored by two of the major beverage companies, who get marketing value for their products at the tournament.
In 2019, Trinidad teams made a clean sweep of the three categories that are usually contested. Queen’s Park won the Men’s Division on penalties after a 3-3 draw with Hikers; George United edged local side GBTI GCC Tigers 5-4 in the ExxonMobil Ladies final; and Queen’s Park prevailed 11-8 against Vintage GCC in a high-scoring Lucozade Veterans final.
Last year’s Festival was sponsored by Demerara Distillers Limited through its Diamond Mineral Water brand, in association with ExxonMobil and ANSA McAl Trading via Lucozade.
