|
PABLO EL POA, SANTA CRUZ,
Trinidad and Tobago, August 18, 2022. An
all Trinidad and Tobago match-up between the
experienced pair of Tysan Selvon and Britney
Choon (TTO-1) and Rejan Dubois and Meliscia
Kalipersad of TTO-3 will serve off the inaugural
Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA)
Under-23 Beach Volleyball Tour first leg at the
multipurpose facility at Pueblo El Pao, El
Perico Road, Gasparillo, Santa Cruz on Friday
from 1 pm.
It will be the fifth
different venue used on the twin-island Republic
by the T&T Volleyball Federation (TTVF) to
stage an international Beach Volleyball event
following previous events at Maracas Beach,
North Coast; Mission Beach, Toco; Saith Park,
Chaguanas, and Black Rock, Tobago.
The six-team women’s event
will play host to teams from Bermuda, Cayman
Islands, Jamaica, and host T&T until Sunday,
August 21.
The TTO-1 women’s pairing of
Selvon and Choon have been together since early
2018 during which time they represented T&T at
the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA)
Youth Olympic Beach Volleyball qualifiers
toYouth Olympic Games which was hosted in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, but just missed out on
qualification as silver medal finishers.
However, despite being
inactive for almost three years due to the
coronavirus pandemic, both T&T players said
their almost perfect chemistry should help them
gel quickly.
Selvon said, “We have not
played for a quite some time due to the pandemic,
but getting this opportunity to play an
international event at home to resume
competitions means a lot to us and we plan to go
out their and do our best and leave our all on
the court.
Choon added, “All the teams are new to each
other as this is a new level of competition in
CAZOVA and they will all be aiming to put their
best effort to come out on top.”
T&T will also be represente
by L’fe Roberts/Meeka Johnson (TTO-2), and Rejan
Dubois/Meliscia Kalipersad (TTO-3), while Anjia
Delapenha/Brianna Delapenha (Cayman Islands),
Amber Simons/Kaylee Trott (Bermuda), and Jade
Parchment/Andrea Ashmon (Jamaica) are the
visiting teams.
Speaking ahead of the
competition the older of the Delapenha sisters
Anjia said she is looking forward to playing
with her sister.
She added, “I have been
playing for the past four to five years and have
always looked forward to the day when I will be
able to represent my country with my sister as
my team-mate, and now we have that opportunity.
“Our preparations were not
all that ideal as it was basically about six
weeks, but with this being our first venture
together as teammates in a foreign country we
hope to soak up all the experience and see how
well we come being away from home and outside
our comfort zone.”
Bermudan Simons said it will
also be the first international outing for her
and partner Trott as well.
“We had roughly six weeks of
training which was very intense and rigourous
and fast pace and we hope to put everything that
we have learnt into our game.
The six women’s team have
been placed into two groups of three and at the
end of their round-robin series the top two
teams in each pool will advance to the main draw
semifinals, while the third placed teams will
play for fifth and sixth.
The second leg of the CAZOVA
Tour will also serve off at the same venue in
Santa Cruz from August 26-28 and will see teams
from Suriname, Barbados, and Turks and Caicos.
The participating teams were
welcomed by TTVF president Daymian Stewart, a
North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball
Confederation (NORCECA) Beach Volleyball
Competition Director and a member of the Beach
Volleyball Commission, who stated that despite
the numerous challenges in getting the event off
the ground, he was confident of hosting a very
successful and friendly event.
Stewart noted that once
these events are successful the aim is for the
TTVF to host a NORCECA U-23 Beach Volleyball
Tour event in October or December.
According to Stewart: "The
points won at these events can also play a major
boost to teams hoping to qualify for the Pan
American Beach Games later this year.
Following the two-legs in
T&T, NORCECA is expected to host the Under-23
event in Cayman Islands at a date to be
confirmed while CAZOVA will play host to
remaining stops in Aruba, Jamaica, and Bonaire
in December.
Women’s Under-23
Participating Teams: Britney Choon/Tysan Selvon
(TTO-1), L’fe Roberts/Meeka Johnson (TTO-2),
Rejan Dubois/Meliscia Kalipersad (TTO-3), Anjia
Delapenha/Brianna Delapenha (Cayman Islands),
Amber Simons/Kaylee Trott (Bermuda), Jade
Parchment/Andrea Ashmon (Jamaica).
Friday’s Women’s Under-23
schedule:
1pm: TTO1 vs TTO3
3.20pm: BER vs JAM
4.20pm: CAY vs TTO3 |
