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LIMA, Peru, June 12, 2015 – The XIV Women’s Volleyball Pan
American Cup gets underway on Saturday with actions at two
venues – Miguel Grau Coliseum and Eduardo Dibos Coliseum – with
the opening day featuring six matches promising exciting plays.
Twelve teams – seven from NORCECA Confederation and five from
South American Confederation – are taking part in the
intercontinental competition organized by the Peruvian
Volleyball Federation under the supervision of the Pan American
Volleyball Union (UPV).
The coaches of the teams commented about the characteristics of
their sides during the preliminary interview of the teams held
at Los Delfines Hotel.
Here follow the excerpts of their statements:
Guillermo Orduna – Argentina:
“We are confident of the work we have been doing with our team.
Our team is well balanced but we are dealing with a total of 22
players since this is a very busy year. Some players stayed at
home. Our goal is always to improve with each time participating
in the Pan American Cup. We want to do it better every year and
get a better positioning.”
Mauricio Thomas, Brazil:
“This is a unique experience for our junior team. We want to
make the most of this opportunity to play in a high level
competition. Our goal is to play at the usual level of a
Brazilian national team. Definitely it’s a good opportunity for
our girls to develop as international players.”
Arnd Ludwig – Canada:
“For the past few years we have been working to get our complete
level and show our potential. We have practiced at a good level
and I hope we can come out better than we did in Cuba,
performing consistently throughout the whole matches and not
only doing well for one or two sets. That’s our goal.”
Eduardo Guillaume – Colombia:
“Colombia is a young team preparing with high hopes for the
Olympic South American qualifier next January. Potential has
been always a characteristic word when talking about Colombia’s
volleyball. We are trying to move this team forward. They have
plenty dynamism and volume of play.”
Braulio Godinez –Costa Rica:
“We are starting all over again with only three players who took
part the last world championship. The rest of the squad is made
of athletes from the junior ranks as we need to generate a new
team to maintain our leading position in the Central American
region when the next tournament takes place next year. This Pan
American Cup is a good experience of the new players.”
Roberto García – Cuba:
“Generally speaking we are completing our team. We just
qualified to the World Cup but are still trying to establish a
regular starting lineup. Our pool is very strong but we will try
to squeeze the most of our team to get the spot of next year’s
grand prix.”
Marcos Kwiek – Dominican Republic:
“We just arrived from a very tough tournament even though it was
a short one in Cuba. Half of the team is nursing some injuries
but still our goal is to qualify to the Grand Prix. It is a
mixed group but still facing some problems. We will do our best
to get a good result.”
Jorge Azair – Mexico:
“It is one more experience for us. This is a renovated team.
Some of our players couldn’t come due to school commitments and
others because of personal reasons. But we have a competitive
team and we hope to once again qualify to the grand prix and
also to improve from last year’s result.”
Mauro Marasciulo - Peru:
“The team is doing well but you always face some pains. The
qualification to the World Cup boosted the morale of the team
but you have to take into consideration that the level of a Pan
American Cup is stronger. We have many young athletes playing as
regulars so it is a good experience for them. I am looking
forward to represent Peru as well as possible.”
Jose Mieles – Puerto Rico:
“I am bringing the same team that took part in the Final Four
and that is with all the cannons available. We are in
preparation for the Grand Prix and the Pan American Games and
our goal is to be in the medal round and to qualify to next
year’s grand prix. I am in the process of testing some players
and Pilar Victoria, who played for Arkansas University, is a new
young addition as outside hitter for the future.”
David Hunt – United States:
“We have a mix of older and younger players so we are excited to
see how they play together. Last year we lost to the Dominican
Republic in the finals and we are going to face some very good
team. We are excited about the challenge.”
Yamandu Peralta – Uruguay:
“We have a young team which is going through a building process
and basically we are here to learn and work for the future of
volleyball in Uruguay. I am based in France and now volunteering
to work for one year with the Uruguay Federation to help as
former player in the structure of the technical staff. That’s
the way to, in some way, pay back to the volleyball of my
country all the sport did for me.” |
