Puerto Rico is one of the four teams battling for a sport at the FIVB Volleyball Girls' U18 World Championship in Peru
Havana, Cuba, March 14, 2015 - Teams from Chile, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and Cuba will be battling for the last place available for NORCECA and South America at the FIVB Volleyball Girls’ U18 World Championship in Peru next August, when the U18 Pan American Cup gets underway in Havana on Tuesday.
The teams will be grouped in Pool B of the eight-team competition. Pool A will include four sides which are already qualified for the World Championship, namely Argentina, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Peru.
The winners of Pool B in the preliminary round of the event will claim a ticket to the competition to be played in Lima, the Peruvian capital, from August 7 to 16.
Three NORCECA teams - the Dominican Republic, United States and Mexico - qualified as the top teams of the 2014 Continental Championship held in San Jose, Costa Rica. Brazil and Argentina got their tickets through the South American Championship.
The U18 Girls’ Pan American Cup is organised by the Pan American Volleyball Union. It will be the third edition of the U18 Girls’ Pan American Cup. Argentina won in 2011 when the event took place in Tijuana, Mexico, while Brazil prevailed in 2013 in Guatemala City.
The preliminary round-robin phase of the tournament consists of four daily matches at the Sports Palace of Ciudad Deportiva in Havana, with pool winners advancing directly to the semifinal round scheduled on March 21.
Teams placed second and third will play crossed matches in the quarterfinals on March 20 - the contest for seventh position will take place on the same day. The medal matches will take place on March 21, preceded by the contest for fifth place.
The preliminary round calendar is the following:
March 17
14.00 Argentina v Peru
16.00 Puerto Rico v Chile
18.00 Dominican Republic v Mexico
20.00 Cuba v Costa Rica
March 1814.00 Costa Rica v Puerto Rico
16.00 Mexico v Argentina
18.00 Peru v Dominican Republic
20.00 Cuba v Chile
March 1914.00 Chile v Costa Rica
16.00 Mexico v Peru
18.00 Dominican Republic v Argentina
20.00 Cuba v Puerto Rico
Past Podium Positions2011 Argentina - Mexico - Dominican Republic
2013 Brazil - Puerto Rico - Dominican Republic