AFECAVOL set to qualify into next round

BELIZE CITY, Belize, September 23, 2016. - Coaches of the seven national teams competing at the AFECAVOL Men’s FIVB 2018 World Championship qualification round to be held in Belize, said to be eager in moving ahead into the next round with only two tickets available.  

Coaches shared their thoughts about the round-robin competition during at the general technical meeting chaired by NORCECA Supervisor, Jose Luis Jimenez Lao.

Also attending the meeting, Mr. Allan Sharp, President of Belize National Volleyball Federation who gave a warm welcoming to and spoke about the difficulties his collaborators have faced to host the event after Hurricane Earl that forced them to postpone the tournament, “our country is still recovering and our efforts have been enormous. The venue is all set, after being partially destroyed and with the help of our volleyball community we are proud to host this event”.

These are the Head coaches’ statements.

Delio Arruebarrena, Belize “I’ve been coaching this team for seven months, in which our preparation has been in accordance to the physical attributes of Belizean athletes and I consider the advances are notorious. About our technical and tactic strategy, we competed at the Cancun Cup and the U-23 Central American Championship, considering that half of the team is under 23. According to this plan, we should qualify to the next round”.  

Jose Dante, Dominican Republic “On this occasion we must obtain one of the two tickets and I consider we can finish first. We are bringing ten highly competitive players. Ninety percent of the team played the U-23 Pan American Cup and adding to them Wilfrido Hernandez and Henry Lopez we can win this tournament”.

Nery Henriquez, El Salvador “I was called to coach this team just two months ago; we are building for the future with two veteran players and other young players but with international experience.  It will be a hard and complicated tournament, but we are motivated to do our best, without leaving aside our main objective to qualify for the next round and the other objective of preparing for the Central American Games next year”. 

Reider Lucas, Guatemala “This will be a very even tournament; we don’t know what to expect from Dominican Republic. We have prepared well and we are ready to battle for one of the two spots available, this is our main objective. My guys are aware that they can reach this objective”.

Marvin Ulloa, Honduras “Several of our senior players have retired, so our team is restructured. We trained together with the under 23 team and we have a good combination that is coming to fight. Everybody’s goal here is to reach the next round and it will be hard to achieve with our opponents”.

Osman Hernandez, Nicaragua “Our team is a combination of young and senior players, with whom we hope to achieve our goals.  We know the two spots in contention are important, but it’s also important to move ahead in ranking; in the last senior competition we finished fourth, after being the lowest ranked. The team is ready to compete, even if we are missing players who weren’t able to come, but are part of our process”.

Horacio Angulo, Panama “We are aiming for a spot in the next round, we know that in our region the competition is very even and now with Dominican Republic in this event, we are expecting a tough quarrel. My team is young and renovated, but with international exposure; Panama seeks to be Central America’s number one team in the senior category”