NORCECA teams looking to topple USA and CUBA

WINNIPEG, Canada, September 17, 2007.- There has been a 28-year supremacy for the USA and Cuba at the Women’s NORCECA Continental Championships and many of the emerging nations are looking to topple these two giants and earn their spot at the 2007 World Cup, the first opportunity to qualify for the 2008 Olympics.

The USA has the last three titles from 2005, 03 and 01 and adding earlier wins in 83 and 81, While Cuba won 8 in a row in 99, 97, 95, 93, 91, 89, 87 and 85.

After the event’s Official Technical Meeting, all eight coaches sat together and commented on the importance of this event and the qualification process moving forward.

Puerto Rico - Head Coach Juan Nunez
"This event is very important as a preparation for the NORCECA Olympic Qualification Tournament in December. We are here with a team that has a built around our most important players. This reformation will allow us to have time to recuperate some of our players who have injuries, and examine the players who will be replacing them in the future."

Trinidad and Tobago - Head Coach Francisco Cruz
"Our expectations for this event are very moderate since our team is very young. This team was created this year when the program established in Trinidad and Tobago. As you can see in the stats we have the youngest team in the tournament, so our goal is to participate and obtain the best result while looking forward to our future."

United States of America - Head Coach Ping Lang
"This is a very important year for us. We have been training very consistently. Unfortunately we have had a number of recent injuries, however out goal is still to qualify for the Olympics and this event is the first step."

Canada - Head Coach Naoki Miyashita 

"This competition is very important to our team development. To qualify to the World Cup, a tournament that qualifies three teams directly to the Olympics is very important. The NORCECA’s is a step towards the Olympic Qualifying tournament in December, which is our most important competition this year."

Mexico - Head Coach Macario Gonzalez
"We have been competing all year round and our team has been younger at each event. For Mexico it is very important to obtain and adjust between the players who have been included on previous national teams and those who will be our future. We’ll prepare our strategy for the Olympic Qualifier that we will host in our country. We want to be the most important team at that tournament."

Cuba - Head Coach Antonio Perdomo Estrella  

"This is the first step for the Olympic Games, and we have an objective to be in the finals of this competition, to overcome this step to win the finals and to participate in the World Cup in order to qualify to the Olympic Games. We look forward to be in the final with the team who plays the best. Amongst the teams here there are many that have the same high performance quality and all have a chance to be in the final."

Costa Rica - Head Coach Eladio Vargas  

"It is important for us to be just be in this competition. We are here with a very young team with an average age of 20. Our interest is to give them the most experience possible. We are able to achieve this in NORCECA with team such as Dominican Republic, Canada, Cuba and the USA."

Dominican Republic - Head Coach Miguel Cruz Beato  

"For us it is very important since this event we begin the road to our Olympic qualification. It is no doubt that this year has been a very bad year for the Dominican team, since we have had many injuries. We are recuperating slowly from these injuries. For this event our team is a mixed team of experienced players and young players. Never the less for this tournament we are looking forward to producing a result that will allow us to continue with the program and qualify for the World Cup."