Host hoping for better fortunes

Host St Vincent and the Grenadines will be hoping for better returns when the 2012 National Lotteries Authority Jean Pierre Caribbean Netball Association Under-16 Netball Championships open here tomorrow, Saturday, at the Netball facility at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex.{{more}}

St Vincent and the Grenadines is among eight teams seeking glory in this the 13th version of the championships which run until next Thursday.

The others are Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, defending champions

St Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Antigua and Barbuda.

Absent for the second year running is nine-time champion Jamaica, which has opted to tour England instead.

In the Vincentian squad, the lone player returning is Zonell James, who was part of the team which placed fourth in St Kitts last year.

The Vincentian team will be led by Desiann Laborde, and also includes Penelia Phillips, Daniella Patterson, Phelisha Gloster, Khadijah Williams, Shafiqua Maloney, Gesiel Wilson, Denisha Gurley, Janiel Ferdinand, Mauricia Cuffy and Gailesha Huggins.

This year also sees a change in the management composition.

The team will be managed by Gailene Gordon, who relieves Doris Mc Intosh, who performed the duty in 2011.

Skiddy Francis Crick is the team’s Coach, taking over from Moeth Gaymes, who served in that capacity in 2010 and 2011.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines plays Dominica in its opening match tomorrow.

The other matches carded for tomorrow’s opening feature Barbados does battle with Grenada, and St Lucia goes up against Antigua and Barbuda.

This is the second time St Vincent and the Grenadines is hosting the Under-16 championships, having done so in 2001.

St Vincent and the Grenadines has won the title once, and that was back in 1999. St Lucia added its name on the winner’s list last year in St Kitts.

The other triumphant team was Barbados, which lifted the championships in 2005. (RT)