OECS Netballers meet in Vincy land

The quest for the top tier of the 2004 East Caribbean Group of Companies (ECGC) OECS Netball Club championship begins later today at the Arnos Vale Sporting Complex.
Eight clubs will vie for the championship.
The clubs are St. Kitts’ Tropical Shipping Newtown, Antigua’s Courts Eagles, Dominica’s Spartans, Island Garment Panthers of Grenada, Nevis’ Pace Setters and St. Lucia’s Shamrock and Elite Strikers.
Carrying the hopes of the hosts will be C and R Enterprises Sion Hill.{{more}}
St. Lucia’s Elite Strikers won last year’s championship held in Antigua. Long-standing club, Shamrock, dethroned them in their domestic competition in 2003.
Today’s opening ceremony begins at 4 p.m. Last evening a candle light ceremony involving participating clubs was scheduled for the Kingstown Methodist Church.
Matches begin soon after today’s ceremony and continue daily, with a demanding schedule. Matches will be played on mornings and evenings at Arnos Vale.
Sion Hill, debutants on the sub-regional circuit, will try to regain lost pride for SVG, as last year’s intended representative Pine Hill Buddy Pak Mitres, did not make it to Antigua.
SVG last hosted the championship in 2000. Then, the local representative, Vita Malt Maples successfully held on to the title won previously by another Vincentian Club. In 1999, now defunct ECGC Joggers won the title.
This year’s championship was set for Dominica, but that country was unable to do so. The OECS Netball Club championship began 1985 in St. Kitts.