Ivan Contreras makes his debut as coach with a victory at Central American Games

CORDOBA, Mexico, November 25, 2014 - Mexico had no problem to win their first match in Men’s Competition at the XXII Central American and Caribbean Games after beating Trinidad and Tobago in straight sets.

Scores were 25-19, 25-18 and 25-21 in the debut of Ivan Contreras as head coach of National Mexican team. Carlos Guerra scored 9 points and Daniel Vargas 8 for Mexico, while Simon Blake of Trinidad and Tobago topped with 10 and captain Nolan Tash scored 9. Mexico surrendered 23 points to their opponents, while the trinidadians gave up 28. Pedro Rangel aced in three of the seven times registered by Mexico against five of Trinidad and Tobago, all of them by Simon Blake.

“As I see everybody knows this was my first match as head coach and my first win, I hope this cannot be the last one”, said Contreras. “Thank you for your congratulations. As leader of this group I set some goals. The first one was to give the chance to play to everybody. I feel happy for many things and at the same time there are some other issues we have to talk about to improve.”

Trinidadian coach Gideon Dickson also congratulated mexican coach. “The Mexican team was more determinated. We tried to play hard with our team. We haven’t played since early august, but we expect to improve as the tournament goes,” he exposed.

“Ivan has been one of my idols, I want to congratulate him and also captain Guerra, we are pleased to play against them at this match. My team had some errors, but we look forward to improve during the competition,” Trinidadian captain Nolan Tash, said.

“Congratulations to all the fans in Cordoba. I hope they have enjoyed this performance, and spectacular beginning of the tournament. We faced a very strong team, probably not with a lot of technique, but very tough, a team that never stops. We have to work hard because there are still many things to improve,” said Carlos Guerra, captain of Mexico.

“I agree with Carlos, and feel a lot of confidence to go further and have a great tournament, but the most important thing is to have the support of the fans here in Cordoba, it has been a great way to start,” remarked Mexican outside hitter Jorge Quinones, who also attended to the post-game press conference.