Mexicans U-20 back in full training for Brno

TIJUANA, Mexico, April 10, 2013 – Winning the gold medal at the Women’s U-20 Pan American Cup last month in Havana has catapulted Mexican Alejandra Isiordia and her teammates to the national spotlight.

Since their return to the homeland, the MVP Isiordia and the Pan American champions have captured the national media attention with the top two television networks of the country –Televisa and TV Azteca- covering the arrival and requesting for personal interviews.

The main topic, besides of the historic victory in Cuba, is now the preparation of the national team for the U-20 Women’s World Championship to be held in the Czech Republic from June 21-30.

Now she hopes all the excitement created by the victory in Havana can serve as a confidence builder towards the event in Brno, the second largest city of the European country.

“After winning the tournament we found out that it was difficult but not impossible and that’s our way of thinking ahead of the world championship,” Isiordia said.

Isiordia, the top scorer of the U-20 Pan American Cup with 120 points in five matches, is back at the Baja California High Performance Center to continue training for the world event.

“We really had to battle hard,” Isiordia said before the start of a practice session. “We were not thinking about being champions but to have a good competition and, why not, no reach the podium.”

“We defeated twice the Dominican Republic,” Isiordia, who scored 27 and 26 points in those two matches, said. “After winning in the first round, we didn’t fall into over confidence because the two teams know each other very well.”

Following a period of rest during the spring break, the Mexican team is back in full training under the supervision of Argentinean coach Estanislao Vachino, who has been with the team for a little over one year now.

“They needed to recover from the tournament,” Vachino said. “But it’s time to move on.”