Six teams to battle for one single ticket to Bahrein

LIMA, Peru, May 4, 2019 - The 'Peruvian volleyball house' will receive from this Sunday, May 5, eight teams from our continent that will compete in the IV edition of the U21 Men's Volleyball Pan American Cup.

Canada and Cuba arrive with the classification secured by Ranking to the U21 FIVB World Championship scheduled to be held from July 18 to 27 in Manama, Bahrain; while Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Puerto Rico and the United States will face each other to obtain the coveted last ticket to the World Cup.

Prior to the initial whistle, on the morning of this Saturday, May 4, preliminary interviews were held, chaired by NORCECA President Cristóbal Marte Hoffiz, during which time the coaches of the participating delegations discussed their aspirations and the preparation process for the competition:

Adam Simac (Canada): We are working together for a very short time, so our goal will be to have the greatest growth possible in this tournament. We will try to control what we can and play each day better than the previous one.

Iván Villarreal (Chile): We have a team that is combined with four guys from U19, we have been working for a year and we managed to form a team that will allow us to face in the best possible way this classification to the U21 World Championship. We know that it is a very competitive level, but Chile has had a quite important development and we will make the best effort.

Carl Osorio (Colombia): We have come with the U19 category, we do not have any U21 athlete, our main goal is to prepare our team with a view to future competitions. We know that the youth category is very high level and this Cup will help us to continue developing our game strategy.

Jesús Cruz López (Cuba): The great goal is to keep the gold medal. We have five boys who come from the U19 Pan-American Cup in the Dominican Republic, they have combined with seven guys from U21. We do not have great individual strengths, we are committed to collective work; because they are a very united group.

José Manon (Dominican Republic): This tournament will be very useful for our growth, we have four guys who were in the U19 Pan American Cup who qualified for the World Cup in the Dominican Republic and eight of the U21, it is a team that is in perfect conditions right now. In the first phase Cuba will be a tough opponent, but

knowing that they are already classified to the World Cup, our direct rival will be the United States, we hope to make a good match.

Edwin Jiménez (Peru): I think that tournament will allow us to demonstrate the growth of male volleyball in our country. We know that the rivals are of very high level, but we have a base team that comes from participating in the U23 Pan American Cup last year and they have joined a group of guys of great potential who will fight game by game for the best results.

Francisco Negron (Puerto Rico): The competition is very strong, with rivals competing for the World Championship; On the other hand we have a great challenge based on the five weeks of preparation and the experience of only three players who have international touch. We will bet on the collective strengths of the team, and I believe that the service and pass will be key in each game.

Spencer McLachlin (United States): This is a very strong tournament, there are very well prepared teams and we will try to do our best game in order to get the World Championship, that is our goal; We know it will be difficult but playing as a team we can achieve it.