Dominicans stepping on the land of giants
Milan, Italy, October 7, 2014 – The Final Six of the FIVB
Women’s World Championship Italy 2014 is somehow a recreation of
Gulliver’s first travel in the famous novel written by Jonathan
Swift in the eighteenth century.
The Dominican Republic, a tiny country in the middle of the
Caribbean Sea with a population of roughly 10 million people
living in 48, 442 square kilometers, represents Lilliput while
China, Russia, United States, Brazil and Italy are the giants of
the story.
While the Dominican Republic has been able to accomplish the
outstanding and unexpected feat of qualifying among the top six
women’s volleyball teams of the world event, there is no
comparison possible when you go to other more typical scenarios
like geographical size or demographics projections not to
mention other more sophisticated areas like gross domestic
product.
China, with around 1,350 million, is the most populated country
on the face of the earth, while Russia is the largest nation of
the planet with surface of 17, 075, 400 square kilometers. And
Italy, the smaller of the Big Five, is six times bigger in both
area and population than the country represented by “The Queens
of the Caribbean”.
“We don’t feel like intruders going beyond the limits and
trespassing forbidden land,” Cristobal Marte Hoffiz, president
of the women’s program of the Dominican Republic Volleyball
Federation and FIVB First Executive Vice President, said. “On
the contrary, we are proud of accomplishing a feat and showing
people all over the world that goals can be achieved with hard
work and dedication.”
“We believe in opportunity and development and here we are,
replaying the stories of Gulliver’s Travels or maybe the battle
of David against Goliath,” Marte Hoffiz added. “The Dominicans
have downed some big countries on their route to the Final Six.”
The Dominican Republic enters the third round with a 7-2
win-loss record with both losses in five-sets and four of their
victories also playing full sets.
“It is like written in the history that we have to play five
sets,” commented Brazilian Marcos Kwiek who has coached the
Dominican team since late 2008. “I don’t know how far we are
going to go but we continue to play each match like it is the
finale.”
The Dominican Republic plays China on Thursday and Brazil on
Friday in Pool H with the top two teams advancing to the
semifinal round.
In major competitions of FIVB, the Dominican Republic has scored
only one victory over China when won a five-set battle in Macau
during the preliminary round of the 2010 World Grand Prix. They
have never defeated Brazil in FIVB but have prevailed against
the South American giants in Pan American competitions.
“We have shown people there are not impossible tasks so we will
be out to battle no matter who or what,” Kwiek said. “We are
here, so it shows that we belong here with the rest of the
company.”
That’s like saying that David will be out against the giant
armed only with a slinger. |