French Guiana wins 40th Anniversary Ligue de Guyane de Volleyball Int’l tourney

Jun 08, 2014 Sports

Guyana fails to win a game

By Samuel Whyte  
The Guyana Senior Men’s Volleyball Team returned to Guyana from French Guiana on Tuesday a winless bunch after participating in an International Tournament hosted by the Ligue de Guyane de Volleyball to celebrate its 40th Anniversary.
The tournament was won by host French Guiana who defeated Suriname in the final.

French Guyane Team posing with their trophy.

The tournament featured six teams, namely, Suriname, Trinidad, Martinique, Guyana, Brazil (Amapa), and French Guyane.
The Guyana team was made up of twelve players, one coach and three officials. Namely – Jason Seelochan (Captain), Quacy Matheson, Creston Rodney, Luen David,Trevon McRae,Ian Bagot,Satesh Seenauth,Beepaul Bandoo,Kapildev Samaroo,Cleveland Peters,Shemroy Ross and Yoganand Dhoray. Levi Nedd served as coach, Godwyn Allicock as Manager, Jadeshwar Doolchand as a Referee and Gregory Rambarran as GVF Representative/Videographer.
The Guyana team departed this shore on May 27, and overnight in Paramaribo before proceeding on May 28 to French Guyane via the Albina crossing to St. Laurent and onwards to Cayenne. On Thursday May 29, the delegates from the participating teams were introduced to the Vice President of Region Guyane, Mr. Roger-Michel Loupec, at a media briefing held in the boardroom of the Regional Administrative Cite.
The team was welcomed by President of Ligue de Guyane de Volleyball, Mr. Christophe Dalphrase.  All of the delegates spoke on behalf of their respective countries with GVF Vice President, Gregory Rambarran representing Guyana. Professor Carlos Cimino of Italy/Brazil, who also traveled with the Guyana team after conducting a Referees Course in Guyana, represented the FIVB and CSV. At the conclusion of the briefing all of the delegates received gifts, compliments of the President of Region Guyane, Mr. Rondolphe Alexandre.
The Opening Ceremony was held at the Georges Donzenar Centre Sportif Departmental on the evening of May 29th. The teams were allowed to use the rehabilitated Freddie & Yvane Hardjopawiro Sport Complex at Remire-Montjoly.
On the opening night Guyana opposed French Guyane and lost three sets to nil (14-25, 18-25, and 15-25).  On May 31 Amapa defeated Guyana by 3 sets to nil (25-16, 25-19, 25-15) to knock them out of the competition.
On Sunday June 1, AMAPA defeated TRINIDAD by 3 sets to one (25-22, 21-25, 25-15, 25-15) to cop the third place.
In the final, French Guiana defeated Suriname by 3 sets to one (25-23, 25-18, 19-25, 28-26) to take the title.
Before the FINAL match awards were presented to officials, players and sponsors who contributed significantly to the development of Volleyball in Guyane over the past years and at the conclusion of the final, plaques were presented to all of the teams.
According to Coach Levi Nedd, the team learned a lot from the experience. He pointed out that the Trinidad, Suriname, Amapa and Martinique teams were playing together for years and the French Guyane team was strengthened with the inclusion of four professionals from France. He said that his charges got to see different systems and techniques being used during the matches.
The long serving coach said his players are young and talented but need the exposure to get to the next level.
He lamented the fact that more indoor facilities are needed in Guyana for players to practice defence techniques such as skating, diving and rolling which is very much basic in the modern game of Volleyball, but none of the players from Berbice and West Demerara have such facilities.