T&T’s top men’s beach volleyball pair of Daneil Williams and Fabien Whitfield created history when they became the first local pair to compete at an FIVB Beach Volleyball Grand Slam event.
This after the Toco-born duo, who earlier this year topped the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association (CAZOVA) Men’s Olympic First Round Qualifiers towards the NORCECA Continental Cup for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 on home soil in May along with team-mates Abraham Josiah Eccles and Tevin Joseph, debuted at the double-gender FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour St Petersburg Grand Slam, Pinellas County, Florida, yesterday.
However, the pair could not make it as memorable as they had hoped, and went under to Austrian pair, Thomas Kunert and Christoph Dressler in the first round of the two rounds of qualifiers of the main draw of the 51-team event, 18–21, 14–21 in 39 points.
Despite the loss, the players who are preparing for the Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, later this year, expressed gratitude for the opportunity and were happy for the experience of playing in such a prestigious event.
Whitefield said: “It’s a great feeling and it allows us to see where we are at and what we need to do as a team to get to the level and compete consistently against these quality teams.
Williams added: “It’s a great experience and motivation for us to play and also to train harder. We realise that we can compete against thee top teams, we just have to put in more work and get the right support systems in place.”
So far this season, Whitfield and Williams also had a ninth-placed finish in the 2015 NORCECA Beach Circuit Tour opener in Cayman Islands, back in March.
The pair qualified to compete in Cayman Islands without dropping a match or set in the first phase of the T&T Volleyball Federation’s five qualifying tournaments and then played unbeaten in the second phase of qualifiers, four tournaments, as well, between March/April, to get the nod for the Pan American Games carded for Canada in July.
The run of nine straight competition wins by the Toco duo tied the feat set by women’s pair, Ayana Dyette and Nancy Joseph, achieved between last year and the opening tournament of this season.
Eccles and Joseph were runners-up in the local qualifiers to earn the other T&T team spot for the CAZOVA Olympic qualifier which was held at the National Development Centre, Saith Park, Chaguanas.
Today, national women’s pair, Ayanna Dyette and Malika Davidson will start their bid for a place in the main draw of the 48-team women’s tournament when they compete in the first of two rounds of qualifiers.
Dyette and Davidson, who are also preparing for next month’s Pan American Games, have been seeded 16th for the event and will tackle the 17th seeded pair which will to be determined by a draw in the afternoon.