Historic gold for Suriname

KRALENDIJK, Bonaire, June 24, 2018 – Suriname dotted their I’s and crossed their T’s to capture the very first title in the CAZOVA (Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association) Under-23 Women’s Championship here tonight at the Jorge Nicholas Sports Hall, Bonaire.

The title was considered theirs after they had defeated United States Virgin Islands (USVI) in straight sets during the day session.

However they still had to go out and beat the winless Bonaire in the final match of the five-team straight round-robin tournament for the gold medal.

And Suriname did so in comfortable fashion, 25-12, 25-12, 25-14 in just 57 minutes to finish as the only unbeaten team.

After a couple major lapses, they had needed close to two hours to just get home 16-14 in the deciding fifth game against Curacao in their opening match on Friday night.

But it was then mostly plain sailing after that as they did not drop another set – against Aruba, United States Virgin Islands (USVI) and Bonaire.

Coach Victor Lesperans stated he was “proud that Suriname became the first champions of the tournament, especially “since four of our key players were unavailable because of exams.”

And skipper Sigourney Kame, who went on to dominate the individual awards during the closing ceremony, said “Thank God for this Championship. We worked hard and everyone was important.”

Bonaire, the youngest team in the tournament with no player over the age of 17, did not win a single set, but coach Rudy Anthony noted that “they got better and better and played their best match tonight against the champions.

And captain Jahena Angela stated that she was “proud of my teammates” over the three days.

Curacao only lost only to Suriname, finished with the silver medal, while USVI beat Aruba and Bonaire for the final place on the podium.

It was the first international competition ever to be staged on the tiny island of Bonaire and only the third time that one of their teams had ever even competed at this level.