Invitational Gatorade Cup to begin in Peru

Lima, Peru, May 6, 2015 - The Final Four Invitational U18 Girls’ Gatorade Cup to be contested between hosts Peru, Argentina, Dominican Republic and Baja California of Mexico runs from May 7 to 10 at the Manuel Bonilla Coliseum in Lima, the Peruvian capital.

The event, which is organised by the Peruvian Volleyball Federation with the approval of the Volleyball Pan American Union, is a warm-up competition ahead of the FIVB Volleyball Girls' U18 World Championship to be played in Lima next August.

Luis Linares, president of the Peruvian Federation, took part in a press conference held on Tuesday, where the national team was introduced to the media and sponsors.

“Our goal is to prepare our team as well as possible for the World Championship to be held in our country next August,” Linares said. “The teams here are qualified to the world event and the idea is to give our girls the opportunity to play against these opponents looking for good results in the future.”

The home team will be under new coach Walter Lung, who was appointed by the Peruvian Federation on April 1.

“For the past several weeks we have worked in the technical part on defence and support to the blocking,” Lung said. “In the physical part we are trying to have the girls with better muscle building. The confidence has grown a lot, also.”

The Dominican Republic meets Argentina in the first match of the competition on Thursday at 17.00 (local time), while Peru play Baja California at 19.00. Teams will play a preliminary round-robin and the medal matches will be played on May 10.

“We have been training twice a day for this event, the first of the year at home,” said Nicole Abreu, the captain of Peru. “It is an important competition for us ahead of the World Championship and hopefully we have a good support from the local crowd.”

Competition Schedule

May 7
17.00    Dominican Republic v Argentina
19.00    Peru v Baja California

May 8
17.00    Dominican Republic v Baja California
19.00    Peru v Argentina

May 9
17.00    Baja California v Argentina
19.00    Peru v Dominican Republic

May 10
17.00    Third v Fourth
19.00    First v Second