“It was the closest to playing on an artificial surface” was how President of the Guyana Hockey board Philip Fernandes described yesterday’s historic hockey tournament at the Guyana National Stadium at Providence.

GCC’s Stuart Gonsalves on the attack while Old Fort’s Ivor Thompson, Gavin Hope and Askofu Simon attempt to thwart the challenge.

The Digicel/Bounty Farm sponsored one-day event saw Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) winning the men’s competition while Hikers and GCC Tigers were declared joint winners in the ladies category.

Despite incessant rainfall throughout the day, the stadium outfield withstood the weather and all the matches were completed.

GCC recorded seven points in the men’s division followed victories over Hikers and Western Dragons of West Demerara and a draw against Old Fort in the four-team competition.

The Bourda side was held to a 0-0 draw by Old Fort in their opening game but bounced back to score a 3-1 win over Hikers and then crushed Dragons 6-0.

Alan Fernandes, Devin Hooper and Kevin Spencer scored in their encounter against Hikers while Shane Samuels netted for Hikers.

Hooper was on target once again with a double in GCC’s win against Dragons.

Also scoring were Trevon Smith, Raphael DeGroot, Orlando Semple and Damon Woodroffe.

Second placed Hikers mauled Dragons 6-1 after the West Demerara side had taken the lead in the first minute of play off the stick of Jermaine Murray.

Scoring for Hikers were Jerezeno Bell with a hat-trick while Robert France scored two and Alex Gouveia one.

Hikers also hammered Old Fort 7-0 in a lop-sided affair.

Randy Hope and Akeem Thompson netted two goals apiece while Bell, Gouveia, and Devin Munroe scored one each.

Old Fort was also severe on Dragons scoring a 6-1 win.

Aderemi Simon was in top form with four goals while Jason DaSantos and John Abrahams were the other scorers.

In the ladies division, both Hikers and Tigers recorded four points each following wins against Spartans and playing to a draw in their contest.

The  Hikers/Tigers ended 1-1 draw with Maria Munroe netting for Hikers while Kerensa Fernandes replied for Tigers.

Tigers then scored a 1-0 win over Spartans following a Sonia Jardine strike in the first half.

Hikers were also victorious against the Spartans 1-0 with Cora Towler scoring the game’s lone goal.

GHB President Fernandes said that he was heartened by the response by the clubs to yesterday’s tournament despite the rain.

“The stadium surface is awesome, because we were able to play throughout the day despite the rain, it’s the closest we have to an artificial surface in Guyana,” he declared.

The tournament attracted the four top men’s teams who took part in an 11-a-side affair, while the ladies were featured in a nine-a-side contest.