T&T’s men’s beach volleyball teams of Daneil Williams and Fabien Whitfield, and Christian Francois and Simon Blake will start as favourites to top the 12-team Second Round of NORCECA Continental Cup qualifiers from today through Sunday at Castaways Beach, Jolly Harbour, Antigua.
The tournament will comprise the top six teams from the first round of qualification held last year in the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) and Eastern Caribbean Volleyball Association (ECVA) regions competing in a double-elimination men’s gender qualification best-of-five match series through the finals.
At the end of the tournament, the top eight teams will qualify for the Third Round of NORCECA qualifiers where they will be joined by the top four teams from the Central American Volleyball Federation (AFECAVOL).
Last year Williams and Whitfield won a “Golden Set” decider against Jamaica’s top pair of veteran Mark Lewis and Ryck Webb-McKenzie 15-12 for a 2-1 victory and first place on home soil.
Speaking yesterday, a relaxed Whitfield said, “Our preparation was right up there with what we wanted because we have been training regularly and sometimes twice a day, so I believe we are ready for any challenges.”
Whitfield says the usual top teams like Barbados, Suriname, US Virgin Islands as well as St Lucia, St Kitts & Nevis and St Vincent and The Grenadines should all be taken as major contenders.
He added: “These teams all have good players and while we have been competing on the NORCECA Circuit a bit longer, they have all been working hard and will be out to put their best performances forward.”
With regards to the change in format from the best-of-three team tournament which was played in the COZAVA Round One qualifiers to the best-of-five series, which the ECVA teams did in Round One, Whitfield said the only change is that it’s a lot more games.
“But we have trained for it and are very much prepared,” ended Whitfield.
Blake, the reigning CAZOVA Indoor Championship “MVP” hopes to bring experience to the team. “It’s the first time for me in the Olympic Qualifiers and also the first time playing with Francois in almost a year, so we will just have to see how quickly we adapt.”
T&T Volleyball Federation president, Daymian Stewart who is also serving as the competition’s director has boldly stated that T&T must win if they are serious about getting to the Olympics.
Stewart added, “If the T&TVF, the technical staff and players are serious, it must show in the results and I would be the first to call on Government for support for our part-time athletes, who are trying to make strides in a professional sport.”
“But with nothing, we must still bring gold in this second round,” he stressed.
The women’s teams of Ayana Dyette and Malika Davidson, and Apphia Glasgow and La Teisha Joseph are also in Antigua and will use the rest of the week to prepare for their Second Round qualifiers in Jamaica next weekend.
T&T, along with Antigua & Barbuda, Jamaica and St Lucia will have first round byes in the round-of-16 draws.
T&T will get its first taste of action from 12 noon against the winner of round-of-16 clash between Barbados and Dominica; Antigua will play the Curacao/St Vincent and The Grenadines winner; Jamaica tackles the Suriname/St Kitts & Nevis winner victor; and St Lucia will come up against the USVI/Dutch St Maarten winner in the winners’ draw.