SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Jamaica’s Sunshine Girls are to begin their quest for a historic medal at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games today when they take on fellow Caribbean side Barbados.

Match time is 2:30 pm (3:30 pm Jamaica time).

The netball competition, which is being contested at the CAC Games for the first time ever, will see six teams competing in the tournament in a round robin format.

The other competing teams are Trinidad and Tobago, the Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, and St Vincent and Grenadines.

The Sunshine Girls, who are favourites to win the gold medal, have assembled a very strong squad for the competition, despite the absence of a number of senior players who are currently preparing for the Netball World Cup (NWC) tournament.

The Sunshine Girls squad comprises only three of the players who have been selected to represent the country at the NWC, which will be held in Cape Town, South Africa. They are Adean Thomas, Rebekah Robinson and Crystal Plummer.

Phyllis Thompson, co-coach of the Sunshine Girls, said they will not be taking their opponents for granted.

“We are not taking them lightly because Barbados have a very good team and so we are just going to go out there and play hard, because they have been preparing for this tournament and they are upbeat and ready to go,” said Thompson.

“We definitely want this gold medal because netball is being contested at the CAC Games for the first time and so we want to make history by winning the gold medal for the country.

“The girls are excited because they have put in the work, and I know that they will represent themselves and the country well at the championships,” Thompson added.

The Sunshine Girls are ranked fourth in the world, ten places above the Bajans.

Despite this, Denise Alleyne, head coach of Barbados, said she is anticipating a great performance from her team. “I think that we are ready because we would have spent several months preparing for this tournament,” said Alleyne.

“We were able to put in a very good training session today [Sunday], and we saw the court and we saw the surface and have a good idea of what the teams look like, based on past experiences, and so I think mentally and physically we are ready to take on the challenge,” she said.

Alleyne said despite the absence of a number of senior players from the Sunshine Girls’ team, they are still a very good side.

“They are without a number of their senior players but also they would have had some good players coming through the ranks at the Under-23 level so Jamaica will bring a solid team.

“I know that they [Barbados] will come to compete just like we will and so I won’t take that for granted — but I believe that we can compete at the level where we can have a great outcome,” Alleyne said.