T&T Under-21 men’s volleyball captain, Joshua Persaud says his team will be aiming for a best-ever finish by this country when the team serves off its campaign against host Martinique in the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Junior Championship at the La Ville de Riviere-Salee Palais Des Sports from on Sunday from 8 pm.
Speaking on the eve of his team’s opener, Persaud said his team’s main focus is to do much better than any other team has done before at this level.
“We know that our country has never won the competition so if that’s the best finish we have to aim at then that is our goal. As a team, we play a great team game and we are hoping that we are all in sync with each from the first match until the competition ends."
Team coach, Peer Nasseir added, “Our preparation started way back in 2018 so we had a good start, but then we had a break due to the players having examinations at school for about three months. So over the last few months, we have managed to step back up the preparations with the players having the exposure of playing in the Super League and Schools competition."
In 2017 when the competition was last held in Suriname, Barbados defeated Haiti for the crown to complete the hat-trick after wins in 2013 in Guadeloupe and 2015 on home soil over Curacao and T&T respectively, after they first won the competition back in 1997 on home soil, the inaugural year, and 2005 beating host Aruba for the gold medal.
This time around, Barbados will do battle with host Martinique, Guadeloupe, Curacao, T&T and US Virgin Islands in a six-team competition from which the tournament winners will advance to the NORCECA Continental Championship qualifiers for next FIVB age-group World Championships.
When competition begins on Sunday, the Barbadian will first compete in Group C with 2011/2012 winners Curacao and Guadeloupe at the end of which the top team advances to the semifinal while the other two competitors in the cross-over quarterfinals while in Group D, host Martinique who won in 1999 in Jamaica and ended with the bronze medal last time out faces T&T and US Virgin Islands two teams which have never lifted the title.
Tournament groups and fixtures
GROUP C
December 8: Barbados vs Curacao, 1pm
December 9: Barbados vs Guadeloupe, 4pm
December 10: Curacao vs Guadeloupe, 2pm
Group D
December 8: Martinique vs Trinidad and Tobago, 8pm
December 9: US Virgin Islands vs Trinidad and Tobago, 2pm
December 10: US Virgin Islands vs Martinique,6pm
December 11
Quarterfinals: 2A vs 3B; 2B vs 3A
December 12
Semifinals
December 13
Playoffs
Fifth: Quarterfinal Loser 1 vs Quarterfinal Loser 2
Third: Semifinal Loser 1 vs Semifinal Loser 2
Final: Semifinal Winner 1 vs Semifinal Winner 2