Trinidad and Tobago netballers open World Cup qualifying with a win

THE Trinidad and Tobago Netball Team opened their Netball World Cup qualifiers with a comprehensive 55-24 victory against Antigua and Barbuda on Sunday at the National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston, Jamaica.

Goal-shooter Afeisha Noel was near perfect in the match scoring 34 goals out of 37 attempts and she was assisted by experienced player Joelisa Cooper who made 12 from14 shots. Tiana Dillon added six goals whilst Cheynelle Dolland scored 3 goals.

Coach Kemba Duncan started Afeisha Noel (Goal-Shooter), Joelisa Cooper (Goal- Attack) Shantel Seemungal (Wing) Oprah Douglas (Center), Janeisha Cassimy(Wing Defence) Jameela Mc Carthy (Goal- Defence) Shaquanda Greene Noel (Goal- Keeper).

The Calypso Girls dominated from the first whistle of the match and didn’t slow down. They led 18 -7 after the first quarter and 30-11 at halftime. In the second half, TT rotated their squad but was still able to outscore their opponents 25- 13.

In the other matches on Sunday Barbados whipped the Cayman Islands 67-27 and St. Vincent and the Grenadines outclassed USA 51-24. TT were set to play St Lucia for their second match of the day at 730pm TT time.

Among the nine teams of the region, there will be two qualifying spots up for grabs for the Netball World Cup in South Africa 2023. The host team Jamaica are participating in the tournament but have qualified automatically for the World Cup because of their World Ranking.

The upcoming matches are St Vincent and the Grenadines today, Grenada (18th), Cayman Islands (19th), USA (19th), Barbados (20th) and Jamaica (22nd).