TRINIDAD and Tobago has become the first country from the English-speaking Caribbean to ever qualify for the World Championships in the sport of volleyball.
This was revealed yesterday when the Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball Federation held a media conference at the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago, Henry Street, Port of Spain.
This country will be represented by male and female teams in both the Under-21 and Under-23 World Beach Volleyball Championships in the middle of the year.
A total of 32 countries will be involved in each tournament, coming from the five zones of the International Volleyball Federation—African Confederation, Asian Confederation, European Confederation, NORCECA and South American Confederation.
T&T will be among the six from NORCECA (North, Central America and the Caribbean) zone. St Lucia has also qualified from the English-speaking Caribbean, but only their men's teams.
The under-23 tournament will take place from June 6 until 9 in Poland, while the under-21s will be in action in Croatia from June 20-23.
T&T qualified for the World Championships as a result of the performances of the senior players during last year's NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour.
Daneil Williams and Fabian Whitfield picked up a bronze in the penultimate leg of last year's circuit on home soil in Toco at the end of October to become the first players from this country to ever earn a NORCECA medal.
The "Toco Boys" also finished fourth in one of the other legs and Ayanne Dyette ended up in fourth position twice during the year – with the assistance of Elki Philip and Nancy Joseph.
Philip and Joseph had been the first T&T players to ever come close to a NORCECA medal when they placed fourth in the Dominican Republic in 2010. Joseph was injured following this tournament and the six-time national champ returned in the middle of last year and was able to place fifth with the assistance of Pauline Woodroffe in her second tournament.
TTVF president Daymian Stewart thanked all these players for their efforts last year, along with leading coach David Thomas and Jason Dennis, recently named as the female national beach volleyball coach.
In addition to Stewart, NORCECA vice-president Mushtaque Mohammed also addressed the gathering and the former TTVF president promised that NORCECA will either bring international coaches to get the teams ready for the World Championships or send the players aboard to train.
This year's senior NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour serves off next week Friday in Cayman Islands.
By Shammi Kowlessar
Source: www.trinidadexpress.com