International Volleyball returns to Cayman Islands

GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands, November 11, 2016 - The first round of the CAZOVA zonal qualifying series for the 2018 FIVB Women’s World Volleyball Championship, will resume here on Saturday with the start of action in Group C.

The two-day event will be the first international indoor competition to be staged in the Cayman Islands since a qualifying tournament for the previous (2014) Men’s World Championship took place here four years ago.

However a leg of the NORCECA Beach Tour has been contested here for the last eight years and Kennedy McGowan, president of the Cayman Islands Volleyball Federation, feels that his team has gained enough experience to stage a successful tournament.

Mushtaque Mohammed was impressed with the “new air-conditioned venue” and stated that the Control Team was able to rectify the difficulties they encountered on the court during today’s inspection.

The president of CAZOVA (Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Association) also said that he was very happy with the accommodations his team is receiving and expects “participation at a high level.”

Teams from Bahamas, Bonaire, Guadeloupe and host country Cayman Islands will be battling in round-robin competition and the top two finishers will qualify for the second round in Jamaica in July.

Curacao and United States Virgin Islands moved forward from Group A in August in St Croix and two more will qualify when Aruba, Haiti, Martinique and Suriname meet in the final event (Group B) in Aruba in two weeks.

The next World Championship will take place in Japan and six countries from the NORCECA region will be involved.