Barbados women’s beach volleyball teams will battle with the top five qualifiers from Central America early next year in a bid to reach the London 2012 Olympics.
The women struck gold on Seven Mile Beach in the Cayman Islands on Sunday when they met and defeated nemesis Trinidad and Tobago in the finals of the Norceca Continental Beach Volleyball Qualifier.
The Bajan team of Anthazia Mason and Shari Matthews first stopped Elkins Phillips and Ayana Dyette 21-19, 15-21, 15-12 before Mona Crawford and Sharon Bovell came from a set down to beat Malika Charles and Pauline Woodroffe 19-21, 21-12, 15-6 to end the tournament unbeaten.
Playing in front of a packed stadium well dotted with a large group of Barbadians who live in the Caymans, Barbados advanced to the next round to the blaring strains of Rupee’s I Am A Bajan.
The men did not fare as well.
The pairs of Jabarry Goodridge and Kyle Browne and Omar Sealy and Winston Gittens did not get out of their round after they were swept away by the hosts on Saturday, losing all of their games.
Neither Sealy nor Gittens has represented Barbados in the indoor game, while Goodridge and Browne have just graduated from the junior programme.
On the other hand, only Mona Crawford has not worn national colours for the Barbados women’s indoor squad.
