Nigel Si­mon

To­co-born duo Daneil Williams and Fa­bi­en Whit­field lived up to their pre-tour­na­ment hype as the top pair when they won a "Gold­en Set" de­cider against Ja­maica top pair of vet­er­an Mark Lewis and Ryck Mc Ken­zie 15-12 for a 2-1 team vic­to­ry and gold in the Caribbean Zon­al Vol­ley­ball As­so­ci­a­tion Men's Beach Vol­ley­ball Qual­i­fiers first round to­wards the Norce­ca Con­ti­nen­tal Cup for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics 2016 at the Na­tion­al De­vel­op­ment Cen­tre, Saith Park, Ch­agua­nas, yes­ter­day.

Williams and Whit­field (TTO-A), com­ing off a ninth placed fin­ish in the Norce­ca Con­ti­nen­tal Tour open­er two weeks ago in Cay­man Is­lands had ear­li­er swept aside a vis­i­bly in­jured Dono­van Richards and Christo­pher Wal­ters 21-10, 21-15 for a 1-0 lead.

But Lewis/Mc Ken­zie (Ja­maica-A) kept alive their hopes of gold when they si­lenced Abra­ham Ec­cles and Tevin Joseph (TTO-B), 21-15, 21-13 to lev­el the tie at 1-1 and set up the "Gold­en Set" where the host back by a vo­cif­er­ous home crowd pow­ered their way to vic­to­ry.

Once again, it was left up to Williams and Whit­field, reg­u­lar par­tic­i­pants on the Norce­ca Tour, to come up big for the host and they did not dis­ap­point, by earn­ing a "Gold­en Set" vic­to­ry.

Ear­li­er on in the morn­ing semi­fi­nals, host T&T, the top ranked team in the tour­na­ment, brushed aside US Vir­gin Is­lands 2-0 while Ja­maica al­so reg­is­tered a com­fort­able 2-0 tri­umph over Cu­ra­cao.

For T&T, Williams/Whit­field (TTO-A) de­feat­ed Car­los Rosa Jr/Ed­ward Pe­ter Jr (USVI-B) 21-13, 21-8 and Joseph/Ec­cles (TTO-B) up­staged Bradley Read­ing-Con­nors/Gus­ta­vo Cin­tron USVI-A, 21-16, 21-18. In the oth­er semi­fi­nal, Richards/Wal­ters (JAM-B) stopped Der­win Col­i­na/Je­an­dro Tokaay (CUR-A) 21-12, 21-16, and Lewis/Mc Ken­zie (JAM-A) over­came No­randy Bonafa­sia/Kyran Er­sil­ia (CUR-B) 21-18, 21-15.

In the bronze medal con­test, yet an­oth­er match went to a "Gold­en Set" de­cider with Cu­ra­cao's Der­win Col­i­na and No­randy Bonafa­sia bat­tling past US Vir­gin Is­lands' Bradley Read­ing-Con­nors and Gus­ta­vo Cin­tron 16-14.

Col­i­na and Je­an­dro Tokaay (Cu­ra­cao-A) had the eas­i­est of wins in the tour­na­ment against Car­los Rosa Jr/Ed­ward Pe­ter Jr (USVI-B), 21-0, 21-0 af­ter the lat­ter de­fault­ed due to a Pe­ter Jr suf­fer­ing from de­hy­dra­tion.

But Read­ing-Con­nors and Cin­tron (USVI-A) made cer­tain of a "Gold­en Set" by draw­ing lev­el cour­tesy a 21-18, 21-16 de­feat of Cu­ra­cao-B's Bonafa­sia and Kyran Er­sil­ia.

But in the de­cider, Cu­ra­cao showed the bet­ter of nerves and de­ter­mi­na­tion to take the medals.

In the "Gold­en Set" play­off for fifth spot, Bar­ba­di­ans El­wyn Ox­ley and Daran Gill got the bet­ter of Suri­name's Rober­to Jo­val and Eu­r­win Daan­si 15-12.

How­ev­er, both Bar­ba­dos and Suri­name were al­ready cer­tain of qual­i­fy­ing for the next stage of Norce­ca qual­i­fi­ca­tion to­wards the Olympics.

The top six Ca­zo­va teams now clash with the top six East­ern Caribbean Vol­ley­ball As­so­ci­a­tion (EC­VA) teams at a date to be de­ter­mined and from which teams will ad­vance to a third round against the top Cen­tral Amer­i­can na­tions.

Sun­day re­sults:

Semi­fi­nals:

Trinidad and To­ba­go 2, US Vir­gin Is­lands 0

Daneil Williams/Fa­bi­en Whit­field TTO-A d Car­los Rosa Jr/Ed­ward Pe­ter Jr USVI-B 2-0 (21-13, 21-8)

Tevin Joseph/Abra­ham Ec­cles TTO-B d Bradley Read­ing-Con­nors/Gus­ta­vo Cin­tron USVI-A 2-0 (21-16, 21-18)

Ja­maica 2, Cu­ra­cao 0

Dono­van Richards/Christo­pher Wal­ters JAM-B d Der­win Col­i­na/Je­an­dro Tokaay CUR-A 2-0 (21-12, 21-16)

Mark Lewis/Ryck Mc Ken­zie JAM-A d No­randy Bonafa­sia/Kyran Er­sil­ia CUR-B 2-0 (21-18, 21-15)

Fifth Spot:

GOLD­EN SET: El­wyn Ox­ley/Daran Gill BAR d Rober­to Jo­val/Eu­r­win Daan­si SUR (15-12)

Bronze:

Cu­ra­cao 2, US Vir­gin Is­lands 1

Der­win Col­i­na/Je­an­dro Tokaay CUR-A d Car­los Rosa Jr/Ed­ward Pe­ter Jr USVI-B 2-0 (21-0, 21-0)

NB: Pe­ter de­hy­drat­ed

Bradley Read­ing-Con­nors/Gus­ta­vo Cin­tron USVI-A d No­randy Bonafa­sia/Kyran Er­sil­ia CUR-B 2-0 (21-18, 21-16)

GOLD­EN SET: Der­win Col­i­na/No­randy Bonafa­sia CUR d Bradley Read­ing-Con­nors/Gus­ta­vo Cin­tron USVI (16-14)

Gold:

T&T 2, Ja­maica 1

Daneil Williams/Fabi­an Whit­field TTO-A d Dono­van Richards/Christo­pher Wal­ters JAM-B 2-0 (21-10, 21-15)

Mark Lewis/Ryck Mc Ken­zie JAM-A d Tevin Joseph/Abra­ham Ec­cles TTO-B 2-0 (21-15, 21-13)

GOLD­EN SET: Daneil Williams/Fa­bi­en Whit­field TTO vs Mark Lewis/Ryck Mc Ken­zie (15-12)

Fi­nal rank­ings: 1.T&T; 2. Ja­maica; 3.Cu­ra­cao; 4.US Vir­gin Is­lands; 5. Bar­ba­dos; 6. Suri­name; 7. Guade­loupe; 8. Cay­man Is­lands; 9. Aru­ba; 10. Haiti; 11. Ba­hamas; 12. Mar­tinique; 13. Bonaire; 14. Turks & Caicos.