DMW Festival still relevant today

By Rawle Welch, Sep 22, 2016, Sports, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....till-relevant-today/

Twelve years after its inauguration in 2004, the Diamond Mineral Water (DMW) International Indoor Hockey Festival remains a popular fixture on the Guyana Hockey Board’s (GHB) annual calendar of events.

The Festival which started in 2004 has grown leaps and bounds with participation of foreign teams from as far as North America, being a regular feature at the year ending event of the GHB.

President of the GHB Philip Fernandes under whose stewardship the Festival was conceptualised, speaking recently with Kaieteur Sport, said that while the final composition of teams are yet to be finalised, the Committee that deals specifically with the organisation of the event is busy working to ensure that this year’s Festival is another success.

Fernandes stated that he has received commitments from as far as Canada and is hoping that most of the teams from the Caribbean that regularly attend the tournament are available once again.

The DMW Festival is the most popular and highly attended indoor tournament in the Caribbean that very often attracts some of the best players in the Region, including players the calibre of Trinidad and Tobago’s Kwandwane Browne and Stacy Sui Butt.

Among the other star attractions that have graced the event include Guyana born Canadian national Jonathan Roberts and Scott Sandison of Guyanese lineage.

The DMW Festival has served as a breeding ground for emerging talent and among those who’ve benefitted from the exposure are Jerazeno Bell, Shane Samuels, Kevin Spencer, Robert France and Aderemi Simon, while of recent the skills of Jamaarj Assanah, Aroydy Branford, Colonel Heywood and Eric Hing have been noticed as well.

Owing to tournaments such as the DMW Festival, Guyana’s hockey has now become stronger and could be considered comparable with Caribbean powerhouse Trinidad and Tobago in terms of producing players of similar excellence.

Assanah and Branford are amongst the most exciting players in the Caribbean and together have earned reputations of being prolific goalscorers in their own right.

They will be present at this year’s event and defenders will be hard-pressed to stop their usually incisive forays at goal.

However, this tournament has already built up a reputation of producing stars and with all the hockey that has been played leading up to this competition, maybe another future star will emerge.

Guyana’s hockey has improved two fold since the Festival’s inauguration so fans are being advised to make this year’s event a must see.