Beijing Olympic Volleyball

World Olympic Qualifiers Puerto Rico in Portugal and Cuba in Germany

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, March 3, 2008 – Puerto Rico will play in Portugal and Cuba in Germany during the Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournaments to be held in the cities of Espinho and Dusseldorf respectively. The allocation of teams was decided after the drawing of lots in Tokyo on Monday.

Algeria, Argentina, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Indonesia, Italy, Poland, Puerto Rico found out their fate after the process conducted by FIVB First Executive Vice President Mr. Jizhong Wei at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo to decide entry to the tournaments in Tokyo, Japan, Espinho, Portugal, and Düsseldorf, Germany.

The winner of each tournament will qualify for Beijing. In Tokyo, the winner of the tournament plus the best Asian team (even if the winner is Asian) will qualify for the Games, completing the qualification process.

Espinho, Portugal Indonesia, Puerto Rico and Poland will compete alongside hosts Portugal from May 30 to June 1.

Düsseldorf, Germany Chinese Taipei, Cuba and Spain will compete alongside hosts Germany from May 23 to 25.

Tokyo, Japan Algeria, Argentina and Italy will join hosts Japan in Tokyo from May 31 to June 8.

The Tokyo event also doubles up as the Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament and Australia, Korea, Iran and Thailand, as the four best-ranked teams at the Asian Continental Championship, complete the line-up.

Brazil, Russia, Bulgaria, Egypt, Serbia, USA and Venezuela have already booked their tickets to Beijing through the FIVB 2007 World Cup or Continental Qualification Tournaments, while China has qualified as the host country.

Remember the ball is in your court. Are you ">too small to play volleyball?

April Chapple is a freelance copywriter for volleyball products and promotions, columnist for USA Volleyball and the American Volleyball Coaches Association Coaching Volleyball magazine and author of numerous online articles on playing and coaching volleyball. Author of the upcoming ebook "How to Stop Serving Like a Wimp" April's volleyball sites are volleyballvoices.com, volleyballvoyeur.com, beijingolympicvolleyball.com, and aprilsbeachvolleyballog.com. She can be reached at april@volleyballvoices.com

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Venezuela men upset Argentina hosts to qualify for first ever visit to Summer Olympics

Image by contretemps via Flickr



Venezuelan volleyball team makes Beijing Olympics, downing Argentina 3-1 in qualifying





FORMOSA, Argentina: The Venezuelan men's volleyball team is headed to the Olympics for the first time after beating Argentina 3-1 in the South American elimination tournament. Venezuela beat Argentina 22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-16 to clinch a berth late Monday. In a runner-up match, Paraguay beat Uruguay 3-1. Brazil, a leading volleyball power in South America, qualified for Beijing on the strength of its last World Cup performance in Japan.



Argentina and Venezuela reached the Formosa qualifying round unbeaten. Venezuela's victory gave it eight points, to seven for Argentina. Paraguay and Chile finished with six points and Uruguay with four. Venezuela avenged a 3-0 loss to Argentina in January 2004 in Caracas, when Argentina qualified for the Athens Olympics.



Argentina's volleyball squad has participated in the last six Olympics and its best finish was the bronze medal in South Korea in 1988. Argentina can still reach the Beijing Games, depending on the outcome of a qualifying tournament to be held in the next two months in Portugal.



The official website of the Beijing Olympics reports on the same story: Venezuela defeats Argentina 3-1, earns ticket to Beijing Olympics



The Venezuelan men's volleyball team will be representing South America at the Beijing Olympics.



Venezuela overcame Argentina 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 25-16) on January 7 (local time) in the final round of the South American Men's 2008 Beijing Olympic Qualification Tournament in Formosa, Argentina, reported Xinhua.net.



This victory will send the Venezuelan men's volleyball team to the Beijing Olympic Games on the only South American ticket via this tournament.



A report in the Argentine newspaper Diario Olé noted that the host team lacked experience and emotional control, compared to Venezuela. There is a lot to learn from the opponents, the paper said.



The South American Men's 2008 Beijing Olympic Qualification Tournament began January 3 and involved Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Uruguay and Paraguay. The teams were vying for one South American spot for men's volleyball at the Beijing Olympics. Another South American nation, Brazil, had previously qualified for Beijing through the men's volleyball World Championship.




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