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LIMA, Peru, May 6, 2015 – The Final Four Invitational U18 Girls’
Gatorade Cup to be contested between hosts Peru, Argentina,
Dominican Republic and Baja California of Mexico runs from May 7
to 10 at Manuel Bonilla Coliseum of Lima, the Peruvian capital.
The event, organized by the Peruvian Volleyball Federation with
the approval from the Volleyball Pan American Union, is a
warm-up competition ahead of the U18 FIVB World Championship to
be played in Lima next August.
Luis Linares, president of the Peruvian Federation, took part in
a press conference held on Tuesday where the national team was
introduced to the media and sponsors.
“Our goal is to prepare our team as well as possible for the
world championship to be held in our country next August,”
Linares said. “The teams here are qualified to the world event
and the idea is to give our girls the opportunity to play
against these opponents looking for good results in the future.”
The home team will be under new coach Walter Lung, who was
appointed by the Peruvian Federation on April 1.
“For the past several weeks we have worked in the technical part
on defense and support to the blocking,” Lung said. “In the
physical part we are trying to have the girls with better muscle
building. The confidence has grown a lot, also.”
The Dominican Republic meets Argentina in the first match of the
competition on Thursday at 17:00 (local time) while Peru plays
Baja California at 19:00. Teams will play a preliminary
round-robin and the medal matches will be played on May 10.
“We have been training twice a day for this event, the first of
the year at home,” said Nicole Abreu, the captain of Peru. “It
is an important competition for us ahead of the world
championship and hopefully we have a good support from the local
crowd.”
Competition Schedule
May 7
17:00 Dominican Republic v Argentina
19:00 Peru v Baja California
May 8
17:00 Dominican Republic v Baja California
19:00 Peru v Argentina
May 9
17:00 Baja California v Argentina
19:00 Peru v Dominican Republic
May 10
17:00 Third v Fourth
19:00 First v Second |
