U-18 Girls Pan American Cup to be held in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala, April 8, 2013 – Teams from eight countries –four of them already qualified to the FIVB U-18 World Championship in Thailand- will compete in the second edition of the Girl’s Youth Pan American Cup from April 29 to May 4 in Guatemala City.

One last ticket to the world event, available for NORCECA and the South American Confederations, will be disputed among the teams grouped in Pool B who are not yet qualified to Thailand.

Pool A consists of defending champions Argentina, Brazil, Dominican Republic and Peru while the sides of Pool B are Chile, Colombia, Guatemala and Puerto Rico.

Two NORCECA teams, United States and Mexico, with secured tickets to Thailand are skipping the event as both continue with their training for the twenty-team competition in the Asian country.

The top ranked team of Pool B at the end of the round-robin preliminary phase will be granted a ticket to the world championship in the city of Nakhon Ratchasima from July 26 to August 4.

According to the competition format, the top two ranked teams in Pool A, will advance directly to the semi finals while the third and fourth placed squads will meet in the quarter finals with the top teams of Pool B in cross-over matches.

Argentina won the first edition of the Pan American Cup held in Tijuana, Mexico from July 3 to 8 at the High Performance Center Gym. The podium was completed with Mexico and Dominican Republic with the silver and bronze medals respectively.

Preliminary round schedule:

April 29

14:00 Puerto Rico v Colombia

16:00 Peru v Brazil

18:00 Dominican Republic v Argentina

20:00 Guatemala v Chile

April 30

14:00 Brazil v Argentina

16:00 Puerto Rico v Chile

18:00 Dominican Republic v Peru

20:00 Guatemala v Chile’

May 1

14:00 Chile v Colombia

16:00 Peru v Argentina

18:00 Dominican Republic v Brazil

20:00 Guatemala v Puerto Rico