Five events will count for Guadalajara Games

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, January 22, 2011 – The first five tournaments of the 2011 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Circuit will count for the confederation rankings towards the Pan American Games to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico next October.

That was the decision reached by the Beach Volleyball Commission during the last of two-day meetings at NORCECA headquarters in Santo Domingo, the capital of Dominican Republic.

The top ten countries of each gender besides hosts Mexico will qualify to the quadrennial continental multi-sport games along with the top five countries from the South America Confederation.

The last tournament to be considered for the rankings will be the event to be held in Morelia, Mexico on May 11-16. The deadline for registration of teams for the games by the National Olympic Committees is June 30, it was informed.

The first five events of the year are Cayman Islands (March 23-28), Guatemala (April 6-11), Boca Chica, Dominican Republic (April 20-24), Chiapas, Mexico (May 4-9) and Morelia, Mexico (May 11-16).

The NORCECA rankings include the points won by the countries starting in 2008 and are used for the seeding of teams at the Caribbean Games, Central American and Caribbean Games, Central American Games and Pan American Games.

Cuba in the women’s side and Puerto Rico in the men’s are the current top ranked countries in NORCECA.

The updated top-twelve ranked countries are the following:

Men: Puerto Rico (3,340), Cuba (3,070), Mexico (2,970), United States (2,930), Canada (2,190), Guatemala (1,736), Costa Rica (1,650), Dominican Republic (1,395), Jamaica (1,230),  El Salvador (980), Nicaragua (581) and Trinidad & Tobago (301).

Women: Cuba (2,970), United States (2,780), Puerto Rico (2,725), Costa Rica (2,470), Mexico (2,305), Guatemala (1,995), Canada (1,925), El Salvador (895), Trinidad & Tobago (820), Dominican Republic (765), St. Lucia (355) and Jamaica (260).