This country’s boys got their first win at the 2011 UANA Pan American Under-17 Water Polo Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico when they defeated Peru 10-6 yesterday. It was the first win in three attempts for T&T which suffered losses to Brazil (17-5) and South American champion Colombia (12-6) in their previous two matches. Today T&T plays Canada at 8.15 am and host Puerto Rico from 8 pm before closing out round-robin play against USA tomorrow at 5.30 pm. At the end of tomorrow’s round-robin the top four teams will qualify for the semifinals.

Last night the local girls’ team went in search of their first victory in three matches when they came up against Canada while they tackle Brazil today from 3.15 pm at the end of which the top four from the five-team pool will contest the semifinals. In their two matches to date the local girls’ were beaten by host country Puerto Rico 14-8 and USA, 22-0. From the Pan American tourney, five boys and four girls teams will qualify for next year’s FINA Junior World Water Polo Championships to be held in Perth Australia.

Story Created: Aug 8, 2011 at 12:43 AM ECT

Story Updated: Aug 8, 2011 at 12:43 AM ECT

Trinidad and Tobago's water polo boys and girls had poor starts at the 2011 UANA Pan American Under-17 Water Polo Championships, as both teams lost their opening matches.

At the San Juan Notatorium Pool in Puerto Rico, T&T's girls went down to the hosts 14-8 on Saturday, before they were shut out by USA 22-0 yesterday.

And yesterday morning, T&T were beaten by Brazil's Under-17 boys 17-5 despite three goals from Daniel Tardieu and one apiece from Russell Ferreira and Jonathan Gillette.

Up to press time last night, the T&T boys were trying to reverse their loss against CONSANAT champions Colombia. The Colombians were also trying to redeem themselves after losing to T&T at the CONSANAT Championships in April

T&T’s Under-17 boys were hoping to exact revenge on Colombia when both teams faced off for the bronze medal at the 2011 UANA Junior Pan American Championship in San Juan, Puerto Rico last night. This, after losing to Brazil 5-13 in their semifinal encounter on Friday night, its second loss to the South Americans following a 5-17 thrashing in their round-robin meeting. According to team manager, Peter Gillette, the improvement against the Brazilians was due to an allround team effort, in addition to the superb goalkeeping of Sebastian Van Reeken who made 14 saves. The showing by T&T in the semifinal loss was also achieved without the services of top local scorer and captain Daniel Tardieu, who was injured in final round-robin clash with USA. He will also miss the bronze medal match against Colombia, which defeated the T&T Polo Warriors 10-6 in their round-robin clash.

However, T&T was the only team to defeat eventual champions, Colombia at the South American Championship in April and was hoping for a similar outcome last night. The T&T team has already qualified for the Junior World Water Polo Championships to be held in Perth, Australia in 2012, after earning themselves a semifinal spot in the tournament. In the seven-team round-robin series, T&T ended with a 3-3 record after beating last year’s winners’ Canada (8-6), South American semifinalists Peru (10-6), and reigning Central American and Caribbean Nations champions, Puerto Rico (5-4).

The defeats came against Brazil (5-17), Colombia (6-10) and USA (5-7). The local girls’ team failed to reach the semifinal after consecutive losses to Puerto Rico (8-14), USA (0-22), Canada (0-27) and Brazil (4-22). Both teams are expected to return home tonight via Liat at 7.15 pm.

T&T Polo Warriors lose to Brazil in Pan Am semis

Story Created: Aug 13, 2011 at 1:08 AM ECT

Story Updated: Aug 13, 2011 at 1:08 AM ECT

The Junior World Championship-bound national Under-17 male water polo team squared off against Colombia last night in the third-place playoff at the 2011 UANA U-17 Junior Pan American Championships in Puerto Rico.

In the gold medal game, Brazil clashed with the United States for the title.

The top four teams—Brazil, USA, Colombia and T&T—qualified for the 2012 Junior World Championships, to be held in Perth, Australia.

In Thursday's semi-finals, the Trinidad and Tobago Polo Warriors lost to Brazil 5-13.

The T&T U-17s improved on their first round performance against the Brazilians, where they lost 5-17.

The improvement was due to an all-round team effort, plus the superb goalkeeping skills of Sebastian Van Reeken, who made 14 saves.

The improved performance was also achieved without the services of Trinidad and Tobago's top goal-scorer and captain Daniel Tardieu.

Tardieu was injured in Wednesday's match-up versus the USA and was also set to miss the bronze medal match against Colombia as he has a fractured wrist.

The T&T players would have been hoping to have similar success as they had in Colombia in April at the CONSANAT Championships.

The Warriors were the only team to defeat the Colombians in the tournament.

Trinidad and Tobago lost 10-6 to the Colombians in the first roud of matches in the current Junior Pan Am Championships.

The T&T boys and girls Under-17 teams return home at 7.15 p.m. tomorrow.