The Cayman Islands recently saw their Olympic beach volleyball dreams shattered.
The men’s national team placed out of the top five in the semi-finals of the North, Central American and Caribbean Confederation Men’s Inter Zonal Continental Cup. The competition took place in Montelimar, Nicaragua.
Representing Cayman were the quartet of Richard Campbell, Philippe Deslandes, Shervin Rankin and Olney Thompson. All would meet stiff competition as they lost to El Salvador 3-1 and Jamaica 2-1.
Costa Rica would finish first ahead of Guatemala, hosts Nicaragua and El Salvador. All four teams now play in the Continental Cup finals where they will battle the four qualifiers from the Central Zone – Cuba, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico – for a London 2012 Olympic Games berth. The tournament will be held in Nayarit, Mexico on 19-23 June.
Cayman’s women of Cristin Alexander, Jennifer Bily, Taylor Burrowes and Stefania Gandolfi also came up short in the Continental Cup. They placed fifth in the semis in Mal Pais, Costa Rica after winning two matches and lose two. They ended up behind hosts Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Central American Association of Volleyball Federations President Marta Centeno de Sajche offered loads of praise for Caribbean countries like Cayman.
“It was an exciting competition and the closing matches couldn’t be better,” Centeno de Sajche said. “All the participants played at a very high level and that says a lot about the improvement of the beach volleyball quality in our region.”
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