• Submitted by: lena campos
• Sports
• 05 / 01 / 2012

---

Three-time Olympic champions Cuba and world No. 9 Dominican Republic are the favourites as the NORCECA Women’s Olympic Qualification Tournament gets under way at Tijuana’s Multi Sports Gym on Sunday.

A ticket to the London Olympic Games will be earned by the winning side of the eight-team event, which runs from April 29 to May 5. The top-ranked team not qualified here will move on to the World Olympic Qualification Tournament which doubles as the Asian Continental Championship in Japan from May 19-27.

No. 19-ranked Puerto Rico and No. 22 Canada are also considered strong contenders for the pass to the Olympics.

Hosts Mexico (No. 27) and Costa Rica (No. 28) are squads going through a developing process with many young players in their ranks, while Trinidad and Tobago (No. 34) are without some of their main players and No. 69 Honduras are taking part for the first time in a big international competition.

The Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Canada and Honduras are set to compete in Pool A, while world No. 10 Cuba, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, and hosts Mexico will play in Pool B. The top teams from each pool will move on to the semifinals, while the sides placed second and third will battle in cross matches in the “quarterfinals.”

Cuba finished fourth at the Beijing Olympics after taking the bronze in Athens 2004 following three consecutive gold medals (Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000). They have taken part in eight editions of the Summer Games.

In their only participation at the Olympics in 2004, the Dominican Republic ended in 11th place. Canada last made it to the Olympics in 1996 when it finished in ninth position. The North Americans also played in 1976 and 1984 finishing in eighth place each time. Hosts Mexico were seventh in 1968.

The only other women’s team from the NORCECA Confederation to take part in the Olympics is USA, who qualified for London by picking up the silver medal in last year’s World Cup. The Americans have competed nine times, claiming the silver medals in 1984 and 2008 and a bronze in 1992.

In Sunday’s action, the Dominican Republic plays Honduras, followed by Cuba against Trinidad and Tobago, Puerto Rico-Canada and Mexico-Costa Rica. All the matches can be followed on live stream at www.norceca.org.

The coaches of the eight teams commented on their goals and expectations during a press conference on Saturday evening immediately after the conclusion of the general technical meeting presided over by FIVB President Jizhong Wei.

Coaches’ statements
Arnd Ludwig (Canada): “This is the best team I have had during my three years as coach of our side. We are here to fight for the chance to be in the Olympics. I like our chances. We have a good team with a very good atmosphere, which is one of the strengths of our team.”

Xavier Perales (Costa Rica): “We are coming with a group of experienced players who took part in the last two World Championships and a group of young players. It will be our first contact since we started this new process and it is an opportunity to see where we are after all the things we have been developing.”

Juan Carlos Gala (Cuba): “Our team is very well prepared and ready to battle for the qualification to London. The performance on the court will have the last word and that is the athletes’ decision. I don’t have pre-tournament favorites since there are no small rivals.”

Marcos Kwiek (Dominican Republic): “We have been working very hard for three months with the only objective of earning the pass to the Olympics. The team is well focused and right now we have 12 players in condition to play. It will be a very tough challenge since there are other strong opponents. We will play with our hearts to get the ticket.”

Matt Winkler (Honduras): “It is a pleasure to be here and to have the experience of facing some of the strongest teams of the world. A lot of members of our team are talented girls from the Under-21 and Under-23 squads, so to have this experience is only going to benefit them.”

Estanislao Vachino (Mexico): “We have a young team that does very well in serving and also in reception. Since we started training the team has grown a lot and I hope it continues growing up during the competition.”

David Alemán (Puerto Rico): “We are bringing the best talent available. We have fortified the middle blocker position and this is the tallest and deepest team we have had in recent years. The top four teams are Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Canada, but Mexico is an improved team. The ticket to London should be claimed by one of those teams.”

Francisco Cruz (TRI): “We don’t have our complete team since the federation decided not to bring three athletes who are playing professionally outside the country. But we are here to give our best as always. Our goal is to continue improving. If I have to predict the most probable finalists those would be Dominican Republic and Cuba.”

Source: BoxScoresNews.com