By Shammi Kowlessar From Trinidad Express Newspapers

PLAYERS from 12 countries will be doing battle next month at Saith Park, Chaguanas, in the first round of CAZOVA (Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association) men’s beach qualifying for next year’s Olympic Games in Rio.

At the conclusion of the tournament on May 10, the top four countries will advance to the second of four rounds of regional qualifying for the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August next year.

There will be two pairs each from Aruba, Barbados, Bahamas, Bonaire, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago in the three-day competition.

The host country will be represented by the top-ranked Fabian Whitfield and Daneil Williams as well as youngsters Tevin Joseph, who competed in the World Under-23 Beach Volleyball Championships alongside Tarandath Deonath last year, and Josiah Eccles.

The pairs earned the right to fly the red, white and black flag by finishing in the top two positions in the first leg of the Trinidad and Tobago Volleyball Federation’s (TTVF) Beach League, which concluded a month ago at Saith Park.

Williams and Whitfield swept all five tournaments without dropping a set and did the same thing in the second leg, which concluded last weekend, to earn tickets for the Pan American Games in Canada in July.

The CAZOVA Olympic women’s qualifying will serve off the weekend before the men’s (May 1-3) in Jamaica and this country will be represented by the Apphia Glasgow/La Teisha Joseph and Elki Philip/Shenelle Gordon combinations.

TTVF first leg winners Joseph and Glasgow will also be competing the weekend before (April 24-26) in Cayman Islands in the opening leg of this year’s NORCECA (North, Central America and the Caribbean) Beach Tour.

Whitfield and Williams, who captured this country’s only medal at this level when they picked up bronze in the home leg of the 2102 circuit, will also be involved in this tournament.

No time period or venues for the second round of CAZOVA qualifying for the Olympics have yet been decided.

For more on this story go to: http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/-12-countries-for-Olympic-qualifier-at-Saith-Park-299467491.html