Waterpolo Warriors collect bronzeMonday, April 13 2009
TRINIDAD and Tobago water polo team earned the bronze medal at the Second FINA Men’s Waterpolo Development Trophy Tournament in Kuwait on Saturday.
They did so by beating the Phillipines 8-7 in the third place play-off.
Captain Christopher George came up big and fired home the winner with just over four minutes to go on the clock.
His strike was the last of an outstanding performance that produced six goals in the fluctuating affair. With the scores tied at 7-7 the “Big George” outswam his man in the Philippines defence and fired home.
Later he was also instrumental in the formation of a steady defence that kept the Philippines out for the rest of the match.
And at the following prize giving ceremony George was named the “Most Valuable Player” (MVP) of the tournament.
The Trinidad and Tobago Waterpolo Warriors got the worse possible start to the play-off when the Philippines scored with less than a minute gone in the encounter.
But George equalised soon after before Christian Flook gave TT the lead 2-1 at the end of the opening session. The Philippines did not give up and levelled the score at 2-2 before George buried the ball in the back of the net to retain the advantage for the men in the red, white and black.
George added another goal to take the score to four, but any time TT scored, their opponents would equalise.
Kristian Bocage then latched on to a George pass and fired home for a 5- 4 TT lead at the half-time interval.
Early in the third quarter George and his brother Matthew each scored to take the score to 6-5. But the game took a dramatic turn when the Philippines levelled the score at 6-6 and snatched the lead 7-6 at the end of the session.
But captain George again stepped up to equalise at seven-apiece before scoring the winner.
In the final match of the tournament hosts Kuwait secured the gold medal when they defeated Singapore 13-6.
The Trinidad and Tobago team: Gregory Joseph, Andrew Francis, Christopher George, Matthew George, Christopher Vidale, Mattheaus Otero, Christian Flook, Kristian Bocage, John Littlepage, Eoghan Miller, Aaron Rodriguez, Ian Welch-Phillips, James Robertson (Coach), Ian Sharpe (Physical Therapist) and Roger Rodriguez (Manager). Final Standings: 1 Kuwait, 2 Singapore, 3 Trinidad and Tobago, 4 Philippines, 5 Morocco, 6 Algeria, 7 Uruguay, 8 Indonesia, 9 Jamaica, 10 Guatemala, 11 Tunisia and 12 Kenya.
