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PLEASANTVILLE, San Fernando, Trinidad, July 6,
2022 - With reigning champions Barbados who
lifted the title in 2019 in Martinique opting
not to defend their titles the coaches of the
participating teams at the 2021 Caribbean Zonal
Volleyball Association Junior Women (Under-21)
Championship which gets underway at the Southern
Regional Indoor Sports Arena on Thursday say
they are all optimistic of claiming the crown.
In the absence of Barbados, host T&T who ended
as runner-up in 2019 and have won the title six
times, the last of which was in 2011/2012 will
be keen to repeat on home soil their triumph of
205.
However, Suriname with a best finish of third in
2007, and US Virgin Islands with a best placing
of second on home soil in 20211/2012 will also
fancy their chances of claiming the coveted
title in the three-team round-robin series at
the end of which the top two will contest the
gold medal match.
Speaking on the eve of the competition, the
three coaches, Suriname's Claudius Straal,
Trinidad and Tobago's Gideon Dickson and US
Virgin Islands Isaac Raphael all expressed their
views on their team's chances.
Under-21 Women:
CLAUDIUS STRAAL (Suriname):
"Some members of the Under-19 team will be
stepping up to play in the Under-21 competition
as well so it will give the players some form of
continuity and momentum as the tournament goes
along."
"We are basically looking forward to playing as
much matches as we possibly can as during our
competition at home we had the girls playing
back-to-back matches and we believe we have
selected the best possible group for us to have
a good tournament."
GIDEON DICKSON (Trinidad and Tobago):
"It's been basically two-and-a-half years for
the players to be inactive and it has been
unfortunate due to the pandemic. "At the same
time fortunately we had the Development Festival
which I believed served its purpose to resume
the sport of volleyball and provide a based for
the national teams selections as we have the
talent.
"We intend to go into the tournament and focus
on each match as they come as our intention is
to win the competition and even though we had
been inactive for such a long time, we are
confident of putting our best foot forward and
doing ourselves proud."
ISAAC RAPHAEL (US Virgin Islands):
"We had a very small preparation of two weeks
with most of the sessions being held together
with the Under-19 girls team, training twice per
day and I am also excited to see what they can
produce on the court.
"What I love about this group of players is that
they are much more experienced than the
Under-19s and should be much better able to
execute their game plans.I'm hoping that we can
get to the gold medal match and take the top
prize as we were third the last time the
competition was held, but we are hungry for the
title." |
