Venezuela with gold medal aspirations

MAYAGUEZ, Puerto Rico, July 24, 2010 – Venezuela presented excellent credentials in their first outing at the men’s volleyball tournament of the XXI Central American and Caribbean Games while defeating Panama in consecutive sets by scores of 25-27, 25-16, 25-16 on Saturday. The Venezuelans established the difference with their strong serves as they outscored the Panamanians 8-2 in that category and edged the defeated side 4-3 in blocks.

Fredy Cedeño, Ivan Marquez and Kervin Pinerua charted 9 points apiece for Venezuela and Captain Harry Gomez contributed 8 points to the win. Panamanian Domingo Avila led all the scorers with 12 tallies.

Venezuelan Gomez said: “We have a clear goal and that is to win the gold medal and change the history of this competition. Personally it is a pleasure to represent Venezuela again after two years away from the national team.”

“The level of the volleyball in the Central American and Caribbean Games has increased a lot since I was a player in the 1962 edition,” Cuban coach of Venezuela Gilberto Herrera commented. “I had not seen Panama since many years and they really have good talent. The competition will be tougher as the frontline teams start to play each other.”

“It is very important for us to play at this level because we have the chance to learn from the top level teams,” Panama’s coach José Remon said.