Barbados outstanding so far at World Cup qualifier

By Morissa Lindsay

Barbados are in exceptional match-winning form as they remain unbeaten after five matches at the ongoing Americas Netball World Cup Qualifier currently being played at the
National Indoor Sports Centre in Kingston, Jamaica.

While many supporters and enthusiasts are confident and strongly believe that Barbados have qualified for the 2023 Netball World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa, Barbados Netball Association president Nisha Craigwell explained that they still have three remaining matches and they cannot afford to be complacent.

The Bajan Gems have so far scored victories against St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, United States of America, Cayman Islands and Grenada but they still have to play host Jamaica as well as Trinidad and Tobago who have both qualified, along with Antigua and Barbuda.

“People are celebrating but we do have three more games to play. Jamaica as you know has already qualified and we need to play them so that game does not really matter. We play Trinidad and Tobago tonight which would be a tough game and then on Saturday we play Antigua.

“Persons are celebrating because
Antigua are one of the teams that are not that strong, so the win against them is predicted, so that is why people are saying we have qualified. I really don’t want the team to become complacent, we still need to fight to the very end and make sure that we secure the
win. So, it is a little premature to start the celebrations but I understand why persons are celebrating but we should never underestimate any team.”

President Craigwell added: “Don’t get me wrong, once we beat Trinidad today that would secure it for us because then it would only be the game against Antigua and even if we lose against Antigua, we would have only lost one and Trinidad would only have lost one and then both of us would go through but Trinidad pretty much have gone through so whether win or lose tonight they qualified already.”

In their most recent game played against St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados won 57-36 after they came from being down 12-10 in the first quarter to lead 25-20 at halftime and were in control 43-26 in the third
stanza.

morissalindsay@barbadostoday.bb