NORCECA Central Zone Qualifier to Nanjing set to begin in Fajardo

FAJARDO, Puerto Rico, December 6, 2013 – The NORCECA Central Zone Beach Volleyball Qualification Tournament towards the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games kicks off on Saturday at Seven Seas Beach in the northeast region of Puerto Rico.

 Players representing five countries will take part in the double gender event to be played during the weekend.

Canada, Mexico, United States and hosts Puerto Rico are fielding teams in both genders while the Dominican Republic will compete only with a female team.

The preliminary inquiry and technical meeting took place on Friday evening at the Fajardo Inn Hotel in the presence of Nelson Ramirez, NORCECA Delegate, and Arnaldo Sanchez, Director of the Competition.

Teams will play under a round-robin format on Saturday to decide the positions in the Sunday’s semifinals where the top ranked team will meet the fourth placed and the second will face the team in third position. The fifth placed pair among the girls will be eliminated.

The winner of the final match will get a direct ticket to the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games while the second and third place teams will book tickets to last playoff tournament to be played early next year where two spots to the Games will be available.

This is the third NORCECA Qualifier to Nanjing with the previous two events corresponding to the ECVA and CAZOVA Zones.

Male Teams

Canada (Jake McNeil/Andrew Richards), Mexico (Gerardo Rodriguez/Luis Romero), United States (Louis Richard/Torey Defalco), Puerto Rico (Sergio Figueroa/Eric Delgado).

Female Teams

Canada (Megan McNamara/Nicole McNamara), Dominican Republic (Pamela Jaime / Magen Bolton ), Mexico (Stephanie Burnside/Diana Valdez), United States (Susannah Muno/Sarah Sponcil), Puerto Rico (Lina Bernier/Eva Torruella).