First NORCECA step towards Rio 2016

SAN JUAN DEL SUR, Nicaragua, February 13, 2015 – The actions at the AFECAVOL Beach Volleyball Zonal Tournament of the NORCECA Continental Cup begin on Friday morning with 28 pairs of both genders from seven countries battling for tickets to the second round in the elimination process towards the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.

The top four countries from Central America, with two teams per gender, will get the pass to the next phase where they will compete against the four best teams of the countries from the Caribbean (CAZOVA) and the Eastern Caribbean (ECVA) zones.

The general technical meeting took place on Thursday night presided over by Marta Centeno de Sajche, president of AFECAVOL.

“On behalf of NORCECA and AFECAVOL we are pleased to have all seven countries playing in this eliminatory phase,” Centeno said. “The reception we have had is excellent and we appreciate the efforts by the Nicaraguan Volleyball Federation and the Municipality of San Juan del Sur.”

Arnaldo Sanchez, the director of the competition explained the competition system and the current rankings with Costa Rica the top ranked country in both genders.

“It is a very attractive tournament with the countries playing best-of-five series,” Sanchez said. “In case of a tie, a golden set of 15 points will be played to decide the winner of the series.”

The match schedules are the following:

Women

ESA B-BIZ A (9:00 a.m.), GUA B-PAN A (9:00 a.m.), ESA A-BIZ B (9:50 a.m.), GUA A-PAN B (10:40 a.m.), NCA B –HON A; NCA A-HON B (11:30 a.m.); GUA A-PAN A y GUA B-PAN B (12:20 pm.); ESA B-BIZ B (1:10 p.m.), ESA A –BIZ A (2:00 p.m.), NIC B- HON B (2:50 p.m.), NCA A-HON A (3:40 p.m.)

Men

ESA B-PAN A (9:00 a.m.), ESA A-PAN B (9:50 a.m.), GUA B –BIZ A (10:40 a.m.), GUA A-BIZ B (11:30 a.m.), NCA B-HON A (12:20 p.m.), NIC A-HON B (1:10 p.m.), ESA B-PAN B. GUA B-BIZ B y ESA A-PAN A (2:00 p.m.), GUA A-BIZ A (2:50 p.m.), NIC B-HON B (3:40 p.m.) NCA A-HON A (5:10 p.m.).