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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, May 19, 2016 – Home-court advantage,
current world-rankings and past history are the factors that
make many people to consider hosts Puerto Rico the heavy
pre-tournament favorite ahead of the Women’s World Olympic
Qualification Tournament in San Juan.
The event begins on Friday at the iconic Roberto Clemente
Coliseum in San Juan and with a spot at the Rio 2016 Olympic
Games all four teams taking part will be looking determined to
come out of the tournament in top spot.
Alongside the guaranteed support of their home fans at the
10,000-seat venue, Puerto Rico is the highest ranked among the
four participants, sitting 16th in the world ahead of Kenya
(18th), Algeria (21st) and Colombia (27th).
Past history also will be working in favor of the home team
whose head-to-head previous meetings show a 3-0 balance against
Colombia and 2-0 record versus Kenya. Puerto Rico and Algeria
never have been together in a volleyball court before.
Puerto Rico defeated Colombia without losing a single set at the
Pan American Cups in 2012, 2014 and 2015 while their victories
against Kenya, 3-1 and 3-0, were attained at the 2002 and 2010
FIVB World Championship in Germany and Japan, respectively.
The home team arrives into the tournament after finishing third
at the NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament held in Lincoln,
Nebraska last January, behind the United States and Dominican
Republic. They earned the last chance of making it into Rio
after a 3-0 (32-30, 25-17, 25-20) over Canada.
Elsewhere, Kenya defeated Algeria 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 26-24) in
the match for the bronze medal at the African Olympic
Qualification Tournament. Algeria was selected by FIVB to
participate in the World Qualifier following the withdrawal of
African runners-up Egypt at their own request.
Colombia finished in third place at the South American Olympic
Qualifier last January in Bariloche, Argentina behind hosts
Argentina and Peru, with two crucial victories 3-2 and 3-1
against Venezuela and Chile, respectively, earning them a ticket
to San Juan.
Puerto Rico and Colombia both will be seeking its first Olympic
participation in volleyball while Algeria took part in the last
two editions of the Summer Games in Beijing and London and Kenya
participated in the Sydney Games in 2000. Both African teams
have never won an Olympic match, losing all 15.
Team’s captains and coaches will be introduced to the media
during a press conference to take place on Thursday afternoon at
the Hyatt Place hotel in San Juan, prior to the scheduled
general technical meeting.
The home team opens its campaign with a match against Algeria on
May 20, followed by contests against Colombia and Kenya. The
winner of the event will get the last ticket to the women’s
volleyball tournament of Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. |
