Barbados join T&T, Jamaica at Netball World Cup
Published:Sunday | October 23, 2022 | 12:14 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
FOR THE last 20 years a place has been made for Barbados at the Netball World Cup. Last night the Gems ensured that there would be no change to their now expected tournament appearance with renewed optimism after a disappointing Commonwealth Games campaign.
Barbados secured their sixth consecutive trip to the Netball World Cup with a convincing 68-29 win over Antigua and Barbuda on the final day of the Netball World Cup regional qualifiers at the National Indoor Sports Centre yesterday.
With St Vincent and the Grenadines beating Grenada 69-50 earlier in the day, Barbados played with assurance and control, jumping to a double-digit lead at halftime, brushing aside any resistance that the Antiguans attempted to mount.
After a summer which flamed out for the Gems at the Commonwealth Games, assistant coach Adrian Craigwell said:”Everything kind of climaxed with what we expected. When we left Liverpool they were very down. We tried to make things work and fortunately for us, we have managed to put it together in that short period,” Craigwell told The Sunday Gleaner.
Barbados finished at the bottom of their group, losing all five of their games at the Commonwealth Games.
COMPETITIVE FORCE
Craigwell hopes that the qualification is one step towards building the team to be a competitive force in the world.
“It was just a matter of making some changes, getting the girls fit and hopefully we can put our plan in place to start rebuilding Barbados Netball.”
Meanwhile, Jamaica ensured that they had a fitting end to a perfect run at the regional qualifiers with a 69-47 win over Trinidad and Tobago, who had already booked their place in the tournament days ago.
Despite not being able to close out the tournament with a win over the Sunshine Girls, Trinidad captain Shaquanda Green-Noel was pleased with the improvement she has seen from her team since their Commonwealth Games campaign last August.
“We really put in the work. Compared to our journey from the Commonwealth Games, where we are now, there was a lot of improvement. I’m really pleased with how we ended the tournament. I think we may be going home thinking that we have achieved too much but we have lots of things to work on. But I cannot complain. We are going back home to work hard,” Green-Noel said.
Jamaica head coach Connie Francis was energised by the performance of her youthful team throughout the week, seeing them take their games to new levels.
“I just loved what I have witnessed from day one until now. I’ve seen young players develop into world-class players. The future looks bright for them. The game wasn’t flawless but the energy level throughout the entire tournament was at the highest quality,” Francis said.
In the other late game, St Lucia closed out their run with a 37-34 win over the Cayman Islands.