For a brief moment, Bermuda were on par with the best teams on the planet at the Pickleball World Cup.

After finishing group I unbeaten with victories over Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Bosnia, Bermuda’s points differential led to them being named the top seeds for the knockout stages.

Despite a heartbreaking 4-3 defeat by South Africa in the round of 32, captain Gavin Manders was thrilled with the performance by the smallest country in action in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

“We had an unbelievable group stage and were able to put ourselves in a really good position to get the No 1 seed, which was history in itself,” said Manders, who is also the national director of the sport.

“In essence, we were the best in the world for 16 hours — the No 1 seeds at the World Cup. I’ll take that any day; it was the experience of a lifetime.”

The tie between David (Bermuda) and Goliath (South Africa) turned into a titanic battle, with Manders forcing the tie into what is called a “dreambreaker” after winning his men’s singles to level the match at 3-3.

Manders and Benjamin Jones had earlier given Bermuda a fantastic start with victory in the men’s doubles before Patricia Mills and Imani Phillips gave the players in pink a 2-0 lead in the race to four points by winning the women’s doubles.

South Africa fought back to win both mixed doubles matches and the women’s singles to leave them one point from victory, but Manders coped with the pressure to claw Bermuda back in the tie with victory in his singles.

The dreambreaker, the equivalent of a tennis tiebreaker, involves four players from each side rotating every three points. South Africa eventually prevailed 21-18.

“It was disappointing not to go through, but it was a blessing to play against South Africa, who are a massive nation,” Manders said.

“We put our all out there and we left it on the line. I am very proud of the squad, as we left it all on the court in the dreambreaker. It’s really sharp, jam-packed and a lot going on. It’s not about just physical stamina but mental stamina, and they just had one touch more than us.”

Manders believes that Bermuda are the Caribbean region’s leaders in pickleball and is hoping this performance will catch the eye of the island’s funding administrators.

"Despite our fantastic achievement we will still go back to the drawing board and figure out how we can make sure we are ready for these type of moments,“ he said.

“This shows where we are in our development and as a captain I’ll continue to lead these battles. We’ve proven ourselves as a regional leader and a global force. We’ll get back to training, use this as a performance indicator for our long-term athletic development plan and continue to chase the resources from the Government and the corporate sector to continue our training to beat these teams.”

National coach Sasha Fisher was delighted that Bermuda’s players rose to the challenge.

“As a competitor, I witnessed every player on our Open team rise to the challenge with discipline, composure and fierce competitive spirit,” Fisher said.

“From the sidelines, their strong team support, willingness to adapt and commitment to every request made coaching a true privilege and set the standard for how our elite teams perform.”

George Thomas, president of Pickleball Association Bermuda, was also delighted that the national team made an impact on a global scale.

“With a population of just 63,000, Bermuda now stands toe-to-toe with countries hundreds and thousands of times larger,” he said.

“Our results in a truly global field prove our programmes not only foster excellence at home but bring well-earned recognition abroad. Once again, Bermuda is punching well above its weight.”

As well as competing in the Open division, Bermuda was also represented in the Senior division.

The older players matched the exploits of their younger compatriots by going unbeaten in the group stage, recording 3-1 victories over China, Serbia and Trinidad & Tobago to earn a spot as the twelfth seed in the knockout stages. They were knocked out by Israel in the round of 16.

Thomas was among the players on the team and took great delight in the achievements.

“Leading our senior team in this World Cup is a true honour, and what makes me proudest is that all eight of our players took to the court and contributed to our success,” he said.

“Their individual efforts, teamwork and support for one another demonstrate the core value of inclusivity that defines Bermuda pickleball.”