Tunisia welcome World League debut

MEXICO CITY, Mexico, June 6, 2014 - Two competition debutants meet when Tunisia begin their FIVB Volleyball World League campaign against Mexico in pool F on Friday. Coach Fethi Mkaover believes his team's participation in the World League represents a great opportunity to help develop a culture of playing volleyball in Tunisia.

Teams from Cuba, Turkey, Tunisia and hosts Mexico are ready to embark in the first round of Pool F matches in the Intercontinental Round of the 2014 FIVB World League from June 6-8 at the Sports Palace Juan Escutia in Mexico City.

Tunisia are the sole representatives from Africa in this year's competition and coach Fethi Mkaover, who expressed his excitement at participating in the World League, said:  “This is a wonderful gift from the FIVB and its new administration under the direction of President Ary S. Graça F°. Our team needs to build a culture of playing volleyball and this opportunity comes on time, with a new generation of players."

The experienced coach elaborated on how every newcomer should take advantage of the expansion of the most important annual event of the FIVB: "We are still number one in Africa but we never have the chance to face teams with more trajectory than ours and make significant improvement in our performance." 

Cuban coach Rodolfo Sanchez explained that his team is prepared mentally and physically to qualify to the Final Four round: "We used the World Championship qualifier as preparation for the World League and I am confident my team is ready; we were able to train here in Mexico a month ago and my guys adapted well to the conditions here."

Mexican coach Sergio Hernandez said: "I can’t hide my concerns for the tournament because most of my players are students, they have volleyball scholarships and after the World Championship qualifier two weeks ago, they had to catch up on their studies. Having said that, we are prepared to face our opponents under these circumstances, we have studied them and I hope the team has the full support of the fans to make their performance better."

Turkey coach Emanuelle Zanini said: "We are the team with the lowest ranking in the World League and I like to set the standards higher in each match so my team can really see improvement which in the end is our final goal”.

Turkey presents a new generation of players, the same team that competed at the CEV Volleyball European Championship.