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WOMEN’S WORLD VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Cuba aims for the finals
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Team manager Eugenio George confident of placing in
top four • Brazil appears as favorite after Grand
Prix victory
BY ANNE-MARIE GARCIA
—Special for Granma International—
BRAZIL looked to
be the favorite for the Women’s World Volleyball
Championship, which began on October 31 in several
cities in Japan, where the Brazilians arrived
emboldened by their recent success at the Grand Prix.
The South
American players are hoping to shed their reputation
for losing major events like the Olympics and world
championships, where they have never been able to
come out on top.
However coach
Roberto Guimaraes, who said they played a number of
games to prepare for this event, disagreed with the
prediction of his team as a favorite.
“There are four
or five other teams that are very well-prepared to
win the gold, such as China, Russia, Italy, Cuba and
the United States. We’re hoping for surprises,” he
told reporters in Japan.
At the World
Championship event, 24 teams will compete, divided
into four groups. Brazil is in Group C together with
Cameroon, the United States, Holland, Kazakhstan and
Puerto Rico.
Group A includes
Korea, Costa Rica, Japan, Kenya, Poland and Taiwan;
Group B, Azerbaijan, China, Dominican Republic,
Germany, Mexico and Russia, and Group D, Cuba, Italy,
Egypt, Peru, Serbia and Montenegro and Turkey.
Puerto Rico,
which placed 12th in the 2002 World Championship,
where Brazil came in seventh, hopes to do better.
Puerto Rican coach Juan Carlos Núñez was confident,
according to the Primera Hora reporting from
Japan, where the team was finishing up its training.
He affirmed that
top player Karina Ocasio has recovered from a
shoulder problem and is ready to lead her team’s
attack.
The United States,
which placed second in the 2002 championship and
Holland are the teams to watch out for, while
Kazakhstan and Cameroon look weaker.
In Group B, the
Dominican Republic will not have an easy time of it,
although it is coming to the event with wind in its
sails after beating Cuba in the finals of the
Central American and Caribbean Games in July.
At the last World
Championship, the Dominicans placed 13th, but the
following year, they won the title at the Pan-American
Games, beating Cuba in the final. Now they are
aspiring to climb higher in the international
rankings.
Mexico is the
other team in the group, which also includes China
and Russia, which won the gold and silver,
respectively, in the Olympic Games. The Mexican team
took last place in the previous world championship,
while the Russians came in third.
For its first
participation in a world championship, Costa Rica
was put into Group A, along with Korea, a team with
a volleyball tradition, and which placed sixth in
2002.
Group D includes
the current world champion, Italy, which has
remained at the top since its victory four years
ago, and recently took third place in the Grand Prix.
The finals were
scheduled for November 15 and 16 in the city of
Osaka.
CUBA HOPING TO
FINISH IN TOP FOUR
Cuba, which
placed fourth in the last Grand Prix, returns to
Japan with the memory of its last victory in a world
championship event, in 1998.
Manager Eugenio
George expressed his confidence before the
tournament began. “I think we have possibilities,
and I believe that the girls can overcome any
obstacle, reach the finals and play a worthy game,”
he told the weekly sports magazine Jit.
“I think there
will be lots of surprises at this tournament; these
days, we can’t predict the final outcome, that’s
impossible. Any team might win the other at a world
level. This is a lot like a soccer championship,
where the outcome is unpredictable, and at this
World event, we are dealing with that kind of
volleyball because of its development, above all
over the last six years,” the experienced coach said.
Cuba’s team is
placing its hopes on its serves and attacks to reach
victory, according to volleyball star Mireya Luis in
a recent interview on Radio Habana Cuba.
The former
captain of the three-time Olympic champion team (in
1992, 1996 and 2000) did not rule out the
possibility of victory: “They just have to decide
that’s what they’re going to do, because Cuba’s team
has everything it needs to win,” Luis affirmed.
She did not give
a lot of importance to the Cubans’ defeat against
the Dominicans in the final at the Central American
and Caribbean Games. “Anyone can have a bad day;
besides, the Dominicans always play well against us,”
explained the former player, who is now a member of
the National Volleyball Commission.
Two veteran
players, Yumilka Ruiz and Zoila Barros, the only
women on the current team who were part of winning
the 2000 Olympic gold, are leading Cuba’s offense
play, which was weakened early in the season when
they were both injured.
Along with Ruiz
and Barros, top passer Liana Mesa was on the team
that triumphed at the 1998 World Championships.
In addition,
Rosir Calderón and Yaíma Ortiz, as well as passer
Yanelis Santos, were also on the Cuban team that
placed fifth in the 2002 World Cup.
The current team
captain is Daimí Ramírez, star setter, who will be
playing at her first World Championship, together
with middle blockers Rachel Sánchez and Yenisey
González, substitute attacker Kenia Carcasés and
libero Lisbet Arredondo.
“Rosir Calderón,
Kenia Carcacés, Yanelis Santos and Rachel Sánchez
all need to stabilize their game to contribute to a
victory, together with veterans Yumilka Ruiz and
Nancy Carrillo, still very young but a more stable
player, with a cool head, analytical; no matter what
the situation on the ground is, she fights with
courage. She’s a natural. Without a doubt, I expect
us to make it to the final,” George concluded.
The 2006 season
was not the best for the Cubans, who finished in
fifth place at the Grand Prix in August after a
surprising setback at the Central American and
Caribbean Games.
The Cuban women’s volleyball team has an impressive
record: along with its three Olympic titles, it is
also a three-time world champion – in 1978, 1994 and
1998.
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