The national women’s hockey team will travel on September 18 to Mendoza, Argentina, to face their toughest opposition yet to compete in the Pan-American Hockey Federation Cup, which is a qualifier for the hockey World Cup scheduled for Hague, Netherlands, next year.
The team has been preparing since early last year for the event and will be the first time that Guyana is appearing in a PAHF Cup. After returning to international competition following nearly two decades of absence, the Guyana women’s team entered the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2010 ranked at the bottom of the Pan American rankings.
According to head coach and president of the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB), the team did not qualify for a spot in the competition but managed to secure a place after Cuba withdrew from the tournament.
After entering the competition as the lowest ranked team, Guyana emerged sixth place out of the eight teams.
Their performance in Puerto Rico permitted Guyana to then enter the PAHF Challenge in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in July 2011.
The Guyanese ladies were surprise finalists, registering victories against Paraguay and Bermuda, a draw with hosts Brazil and lost only to eventual winners Uruguay.
The top two finishers in the PAHF Challenge qualified for the prestigious PAHF Cup which is the region’s World Cup Qualifier.
From their lowly ranked position of 18th in the Americas in 2010, Guyana now finds itself among the region’s elite teams as they enter the PAHF Cup seeded the lowest of eight teams. The competition includes world beaters Argentina (ranked 2 in the world), USA (10), Chile (18), Canada (23), Trinidad (27), Mexico (30), Uruguay (50) and Guyana (58).
Guyana finds itself in pool A with pre-tournament favourites Argentina, Canada and Trinidad.
While the team arrives in Mendoza on Thursday, they will conduct some light training on the artificial pitch until their first match against Canada on Saturday. Guyana will then face Trinidad on September 22 and Argentina on September 24 to complete the pool round.
Asked about Guyana’s expectations, Fernandes indicated that the top teams in the competition were beyond the reach of the others.
In his opinion, winning a medal in this competition would not be a realistic objective as there are world-class teams in the competition who train twice per day on artificial pitches with a professional coaching staff of several persons.
Fernandes opined that the Guyanese team needed to aim toward securing wins against some of their opponents in an effort to continue its upward drive and improve its global ranking.
Full squad: Alysa Xavier, Ulrica Sutherland, Tiffany Solomon, Marisha Rodrigues, Vanessa Pires, Trisha Woodroffe, Marzana Fiedtkou, Leigh Sandison, Ashley DeGroot, Chantelle Fernandes (Captain), Gabriella Xavier, Kerensa Fernandes, Samantha Fernandes, Cora Towler, Aliyah Gordon and Janella Munroe. The Manager is Rawl Davson, Coach Philip Fernandes and Assistant Coach Peter DeGroot.
