The Trinis ill-treated their Bajan hosts by handing them a 24-14 thumping to win gold in the Under-19 Boys’ Water Polo final at the 34th CARIFTA Aquatics Championships over the weekend.
The Trinidadians dominated from the beginning by establishing a 7-3 lead at end of the first quarter and went on to increase the distance ahead to 15-7 at halftime, then 19-11 in the third before closing off with a difference of 10 points, leaving Barbados to hold on to silver.
These regional championships began on April 12 and continue to April 24 at the National Aquatic Centre in Wildey, Barbados.
Conceding that the Trinis were the better side in this centrepiece of the competition, Barbados’ Head Coach, Ryan Forde said that they came with a game plan and executed well.
He said that notably the Trinidadian players were fast on the transition from offence to defence.
“Unfortunately, we fell into the trap early on. And then we caught ourselves very quickly and then we started to crawl back into the game. But in the end, the Trinidadians were the better team on the night and won.”
Forde took consolation that his boys showed progress as they managed second place over the Bahamian team that bested the Bajans in 2018.
“Last year we lost to the Bahamas, this year we beat the Bahamas. The Caribbean is very close among Barbados, Bahamas, Trinidad in that older age group,” he said.
