Guatemalan Beach players to debut at YOG in Nanjing 2014

NANJING, China, August 16, 2014.- Rainy weather on August 13 welcomed most of the Beach Volleyball athletes who will compete in the II Young Olympic Games Nanjing 2014 starting on Sunday August 17.

The on and off rain was present on Wednesday at the Beach Volleyball Venue, the first of two days of preliminary inquiries gathering 52 countries represented by 72 teams –a total of 144 athletes- at the Nanjing Sports Park Complex.

Among the representatives of the NORCECA Confederation, are the AFECAVOL sub-zonal champions, Estefanie Bethancourt with Natalia Giron and Marck Alvarez along with Erick Flores, both teams from Guatemala.

The event presents pool play matches with six groups including six countries per gender, the top four places of each pool advance to a single elimination round. Pool play winners and the best two second placed will receive a “bye” in the single elimination round.

On the first day of actions, the female duo Bethancourt/Giron seeded in Group D joined by France, Thailand, Paraguay, Ghana and Austria, will face on the early Sunday morning the French team of Alexia Richard/Lezana Placette.

Alvarez/Flores will begin their road at the Sports Olympic Complex at 5:00am on Sunday, facing Norwegians Andres Mol/Mathias Bernsten; they are in Group E with Sri Lanka, Rusia, Burundi and Paraguay.

The five days of pool play actions begin on Sunday August 17, on August 24 the single elimination round leading on August 26 to the female medal matches. The semifinals and finals in the men’s division are set for August 27.