U23 World Championships: A Window for Future Olympic stars

TIJUANA, Mexico, October 2 2013 - The FIVB Women’s U23 World Championship is  the ideal stage to watch in action an promote the players that will be part of the next Olympic cycles, stated FIVB First Executive Vice President and NORCECA President, Cristobal Marte Hoffiz.

“Most of the national teams of the world have an important group of players who are in the U23 categoriy. They constitute the 40 or 50 percent of their programs which means that volleyball is in constant development,” Marte Hoffiz said during the press conference held on Tuesday at Baja California High Performance Center to speak about the latest developments in the organization of the competition.

“Many of the players who will play here are the future stars that will be competing with their national teams at the Olympic Games of Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo 2020,” he added. “That happens in other sports like football, Olympic teams are U23 units.”

“The organization of this U23 World Championship is the result of the visionary thinking of our president in FIVB, Dr. Ary Graça,” Marte Hoffiz explained. “He is a person committed with development and that’s the reason we are here about to start a historic event.”

The press conference was attended by the local media that has covered many of the five age- group world championships played in the Baja California region since 2007.

 “We are very glad to be here once again, this is the fifth time, the Baja California region hosts an FIVB World Championship, previously in the seventies there was another championship in several Mexican cities including Tijuana,” Marte Hoffiz added.

The team members of Argentina, China, Italy and Dominican Republic were present at the announcement where Local Organising President and Baja California Sports Institute Director, Saul Castro Verdugo explained the updates in preparation for the event that starts on Saturday.

Baja California Volleyball Association President, Alberto Arreola welcomed the media and teams on behalf of the Mexican Volleyball Federation. Coaches Guillermo Caceres (Argentina), Xu Jiande (China), Marcos Kwiek (Dominican Republic) and Luca Cristofani (Italy) were also in the meeting with the media.

Previously the Control Committee members held their first official meeting at Fiesta Inn Hotel on Wednesday morning.

“The local organising committee task force knows very well how to work in this kind of events and on behalf of Doctor Ary Graça, I want to congratulate them, for their contribution not only for Mexican Volleyball, but for the impulse to our sport in the world,” Marte Hoffiz stated.

The Local organising committe members from venues of the Tijuana and Mexicali also were present and had the opportunity to review details about Preliminary Inquiries, Practical Clinics, General Technical Meeting and an Opening Ceremony scheduled in Tijuana before the last match of next Saturday 5.