NORCECA Special report: Trinidad and Tobago Clinch Gold at 3rd Caribbean Volleyball Championship
All amazing sports find their way into the secret places of the world. The great game of volleyball has flourished in every nook and cranny of the planet, be it the progressive European countries or the developing Caribbean islands.
In this regard, the North Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) has been working for the evolution of volleyball in Caribbean countries since last 50 years.
The Caribbean Volleyball Championship (CAZOVA) 2010 is held in Paramaribo, Suriname from 5th August to 15th August. The event featured the double-gender matches in the same dates. The southern-Caribbean islands Trinidad and Tobago captured the gold medal at CAZOVA Championship by launching their authority over the team from Barbados. They dismissed the Barbados’ team in three straight sets and got their hands on the gold medal. The victorious team played like a true champion and seized the title.
The first set started with a moderate tone, the Trinidad and Tobago team (TNT) earned the early points and displayed a great set of skills to dominate Barbados. Marc Honore and Jessel Davis penetrated every spike from the opponent team with great strength. The superb blocks by these two players saved many points for TNT. The Barbados’ spikers, Elwyn Oxley and Fabian Cox failed to generate a balance in the game. It ultimately forced the Barbados coach to get the replacement of spikers. TNT maintained the fare lead and took away the first set from Barbados.
The second started and TNT continued to frustrate Barbados with inside shoots. The team Trinidad and Tobago paid attention to every little thing on the court and minimized the game-play errors. Barbados tried to fight back and tied the second set at 20-20. The TNT players re-aligned their positions and paid attention to the defence. The Barbados could only raise two points beyond 20-20. Nolan Tash of TNT hit some powerful spikes which couldn’t be stopped by Barbados’ blockers. The team Trinidad and Tobago pulled out a victory of 25-20 in the second set.
With two sets, win in hand, the Team Trinidad and Tobago moved forward in the third set with a sign of victory. The outrageous serve aces helped TNT to create a fare gap of points in the third set. Nolan Tash, the TNT attacker took the game to new level while Marc Honore and Sean Morrison didn’t allow Barbados’ spikers to score any points. Barbados lost energy and really slowed down in the final set.
The victory was claimed by the Team Trinidad and Tobago which posted 25-22 and won the gold medal for the first time.
The Trinidad and Tobago islands have the tradition of hosting Caribbean Volleyball events since 1993. The team often played the final matches of the event but never won the title. The team hosted the 3rd championship in 1993 and up till 12th event; they remained un-successful to pick up the coveted Trophy as victorious team. Finally, in the 13th edition of Caribbean Championship this season, the team TNT succeeded and secured the gold medal.
It was indeed a great achievement of TNT. The top-hitter of the game, Nolan Tash expressed his views after the win, “We came here to win and that we did. It was a very difficult tournament and hats off to Barbados and Bahamas for putting up a great fight. We dedicate this one to our colleague and former National Captain Mark Daly who passed away last year in a car accident. This one is for you Mark he exclaimed. It is a good feeling to finally become Caribbean Champions”
Oxley, the captain of Barbados acknowledged the hard work of TNT and congratulated them for the brilliant win.
Tags: