NORCECA Men's Inter Zonal set to begin in Nicaragua

Montelimar, Nicaragua, February 15, 2012 -   El Salvador face Cayman Islands while St. Kitts and Nevis play Panama in the opening series of the NORCECA Men's Beach Volleyball Continental Cup inter zonal tournament between Central America and the Caribbean at Montelimar Beach Resort on Thursday afternoon.

The winners of those series in the double-elimination event move on to the quarterfinals of the competition scheduled on Friday against top seeded Trinidad and Tobago and Costa Rica respectively. Guatemala battle against Jamaica and Bahamas clash with hosts Nicaragua in the other two best-of-five quarterfinals contests.

The top four teams in the competition then will battle the four qualifiers from the Central Zone – Cuba, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico – for a London 2012 Olympic Games berth. That tournament will be held in Nayarit, Mexico from June 19 to 23.

The Local Organizing Committee presided over by Ms Bertha Cuadra held a press conference on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Nicaraguan Olympic Committee to announce the competition which runs until Sunday.

Montelimar Beach was also the site of the Central American Zonal Beach Volleyball Continental Cup on January 2011 where Costa Rica topped the teams of the region. The Caribbean teams advanced to the Inter Zonal phase following an elimination tournament won by Trinidad and Tobago between teams from the Caribbean and Eastern Caribbean held last December in Cayman Islands.

The NORCECA Control Committee, led by Ms Marta Centeno de Sajche, made a satisfactory inspection visit to the competition courts along with technical director Arnaldo Sanchez and referee manager Miguel Ramirez.

"We are looking forward to have a splendid show of beach volleyball during the whole weekend," Centeno de Sajche said. "The competition is expected to be a tough one with many teams with good chances of making it to Nayarit, Mexico."

Teams of Central America

Costa Rica-A (Marcelo Araya/Johathan Guevara)

Costa Rica-B (Bryan Monge/Esteban Escobar)

El Salvador-A (Carlos Leiva/David Vargas)

El Salvador-B (Luis Morales/Carlos Escobar)

Guatemala-A (Andy Leonardo/Erick Garrido)

Guatemala B (Julio Recinos/Moisés Reyes)

Nicaragua-A (Gerald Umaña/Dany López)

Nicaragua-B (Winston Calderón/David Mayorga)

Panamá-A (Domingo Avila/Edward Díaz)

Panamá-B (Otto Penso/Gilberto Martínez)

Teams of the Caribbean

Bahamas-A (Muller Petit/Renaldo Knowles)

Bahamas-B (Byron Ferguson/Princtanique Wilson)

Cayman Islands-A (Shervin Rankin/Richard Campbell)

Cayman Islands-B (Philippe Deslandes/Olney Thompson)

Jamaica-A (Donovan Richards/Andre McLean)

Jamaica-B (Wayne Scott/Mark Lewis)

St. Kitts and Nevis-A (Shawn Seabrookes/St. Clair Hodge)

St. Kitts and Nevis-B (Carl Collins/Kemoroy Percival)

Trinidad and Tobago-A (Nolan Tash/Sean Morrison) Fabien Whitfield/Simon Blake)

Trinidad and Tobago-B (Fabien Whitfield/Simon Blake)