PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – Trinidad and Tobago has created history by becoming the first country in the English-speaking Caribbean to qualify for the World Championships in the sport of volleyball, officials announced on Monday.

Male and female teams in both the Under-21 and Under-23 divisions will represent the Twin Island Republic in the World Beach Volleyball Championships in the middle of the year, the Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball Federation has disclosed.
A total of 32 countries will be involved in each tournament, from the five zones of the International Volleyball Federation-African Confederation, Asian Confederation, European Confederation, NORCECA (North, Central America, and the Caribbean) and South American Confederation.
“We are very happy since it is the first time that any of our teams have qualified for the World Championships,” declared Daymian Stewart, president of the T & T Volleyball Federation (TTVF).
“We are also the first country in the Caribbean to have qualified as well.”
T&T will be among six teams from the NORCECA zone.
St Lucia have also qualified from the English-speaking Caribbean, but only their men’s teams.
The Under-23 tournament will take place from June 6 to 9 in Poland, while the Under-21 competition will be held in Croatia from June 20-23.
T&T qualified for the World Championships as a result of the performances of the senior players during last year’s NORCECA Beach Volleyball Tour.
“What we are doing is trying to get the best teams to represent the country,” Stewart explained.
“After our initial selection period we will work with the players to ensure that we can have six good pairs of players in the country that we could have representing us at any time”.
The TTVF will be hosting the second round of the Female World Championship Qualifier in May, the Caribbean Youth Cup, Male and Female in August, Olympic Youth Beach Qualifiers and the NORCECA Beach Tour Finals in November.