The inaugural Petra Organisation, GT Beer-sponsored Futsal Tournament will kick off tonight at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall with four matches. In the opening game from at 19:00hrs, Albouystown will come up against Globe Yard, followed by a clash between Agricola and Kitty Weavers at 19:45hrs. Game three brings together North Ruimveldt and West Back Road while pre-tournament favourites Sparta Boss face Alexander Village in the evening’s final game.
Sixteen teams, drawn from Georgetown and its environs, will do battle for the tournament’s $500 000 first-place prize. Second-placers will pocket $250 000 while third- and fourth-placers will receive $125 000 and $75 000 respectively.
The competing teams in groups are: Group A (Agricola, Queen Street Tiger Bay, Leopold Street and Kitty Weavers), Group B (Albouystown, Sparta Boss, Alexander Village and Globe Yard), Group C (West Front Road, Show Stoppers, Sophia and Broad Street) and Group D (Bent Street, North Ruimveldt, West Back Road and Beterverwagting). After facing each other in their respective groups in the round-robin-formatted first round, the top two teams will advance to the knock-out round.
Meanwhile, the National Milling Company (NAMILCO) yesterday also pledged their support of the tournament, which their Chief Financial Officer Fitzroy McLeod says will foster community cohesion. At a simple ceremony held at the company’s Agricola location, McLeod said of the tournament, “This provides many of our communities that have been playing recreational football on the corner the opportunity to harness and to showcase their football prowess. We certainly hope that this will be a successful event. He added, “Futsal has been identified as one of the building blocks responsible for the dominance of Spain for a long time and certainly is an integral part of the Brazilian programme. Be warned, it’s pretty much known as a very important part of the USA Development programme”.
Troy Mendonca, Petra Organisation’s co-Director, said that his entity is “happy for the confidence that NAMILCO has in us and also the groups or the wards that are involved in the competition”. He said they have demonstrated the ability to organise themselves and show camaraderie among themselves in the communities.
After tonight, the tournament continues on Friday with four more matches. All matches will be played at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Source: Guyana Chronicle