The Central American and Caribbean Games 2023 came to an end on 8 July, bringing the 24th edition of the games to a close. Hockey has been a part of the games in every edition since 1982, and the 2023 games marked Hockey’s eleventh edition in the prestigious competition.
The CAC Games 2023 faced multiple challenges over the course of the past few years, but managed to overcome them all to put on a hugely successful event. The games were initially awarded to Panama City, Panama, but in 2020, due to the issues brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic, the government of Panama decided to withdraw as hosts of the event. In May 2021 San Salvador, El Salvador was chosen to replace Panama City as main host city. Due to infrastructure and schedule issues seven sports were relocated to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, which included Hockey.
To help ensure a high quality hockey field was provided for the hockey tournament at the CAC Games 2023 in Santo Domingo, FIH, awarded a new hockey turf to the Estadio de Hockey del Parque del Este in Palmarejo, Santo Domingo, with the help of its Global Supplier Polytan. Santo Domingo will also host the 2026 edition of the CAC Games, where Hockey will have an existing venue of the highest standard.
The award of the turf is a part of the agreement between FIH and Polytan to donate turfs to aid the development of hockey. Previously fields have been successfully built in Malawi and Uruguay.
FIH expresses sincere thanks to its Global Supplier Polytan for their effort towards delivering this project in a very short period. Facing a tight schedule and a number of logistical challenges, Polytan flew in a team from Australia to replace the old hockey turf and underlayer, repair the base and install their Poligras Platinum 11/42 CP RW EL10, an FIH approved Global category hockey turf. This enabled Hockey to be conducted at the highest level in the Central American and Caribbean Games 2023.
