|
PLEASANTVILLE, San Fernando, Trinidad, July 6,
2022 - Still basking in their success of 2019,
Suriname has made it no secret that they intend
to put up a very good defence of their title
when the 2021 Caribbean Zonal Volleyball
Association Youth Girls (Under-19) Championship
begins at the Southern Regional Indoor Sports
Arena on Thursday say their are all optimistic
of claiming the crown.
Three years ago when the competition (formerly
Under-18) was last held in Jamaica, Suriname
overcame Barbados in the final to dethrone the
latter while T&T, previous winners in 2007 on
home soil, 2012 in US Virgin Islands and again
in 2013 on home soil once more had to settle for
fourth spot behind ISV.
However, T&T will be on home soil once more and
will be keen to make it three championship wins
as host and will no doubt pose a serious
challenge along with first-time competitors at
this age level Martinique, and US Virgin Islands
in the four-team round-robin competition at the
end of which the top two teams will compete for
gold, while the third and fourth placed teams
battle for the bronze.
Speaking ahead of the tournament, the four
coaches while cautious about their approach to
the series hinted that their teams were capable
of going all the way to the title.
Under-19 Girls:
ISAAC RAPHAEL (US Virgin Islands):
We have been preparing for the past two weeks
with training sessions twice per day and we are
ready as can be. I'm excited about the potential
the team has as the players have really gel
together as a unit and of course I would like to
have more time to prepare, but we are here to
compete and do our best:"
SALEEM ALI (Trinidad and Tobago):
"Basically we have been in preparation as a team
for the past three weeks following the
completion of the T&T Volleyball Federation
Developmental Festival, and apart from two
players we basically have a brand new team.
"The players are prepared as much as they can
be, but we lack experience without a doubt and
will go into the competition taking one match at
a time."
CLAUDIUS STRAAL (Suriname):
"We started to prepare two months ago with about
35 players and recently made our final selection
of 12 players for the tournament. Two years ago
we were the winners of this competition at the
Under-18 level, so we basically have a core of
players who were part of that winning team here
with us again. We want to repeat as the
champions but first we have to take it match by
match and try and finish among the top two teams
in the round-robin so we can play in the final."
WILHAM LEBEL (Martinique): "This
is going to be our first time presenting a team
in this category of the Championship and for us
it's a huge honour for us to participate coming
after the pandemic which made it very difficult
for our team to prepare and I am sure for the
other teams as well in the competition.I expect
that al four teams will be a good level of play
and I do expect my team to play good against
each team as well because know that Trinidad
and Tobago, Suriname and USVI are all good teams
and we will try to compete as best as we can." |
