05-JULY-2013
FIVB BEACH VOLLEYBALL U19 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
THE SHOW RETURNS TO PORTO

Portugal will host once again the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships. The competition it’s scheduled for July 11-14 at Porto, namely on the adjacent beach of “Transparent Building”, venue that in 2010 hosted with great success the U19 World Championships.

About a hundred athletes and coaches from over 30 countries which will participate in the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships will return home as city’s ambassadors, touched by the warm welcome of the citizens and by the Foz do Douro natural beauty. [Video]

Young prospects – some aging 14 years old – that are fighting for a “bright spot” will look to take advantage of this competition to boost their career to the highlighted international beach volleyball stages.

Ricardo Rocha, coach responsible for the Portuguese teams says:
“From the start, looking for what they have been achieving, Poland, Germany and Brazil teams are the ones with greater tradition in this age group. We will do our best but we can’t promise to reach a podium. This is a very difficult mission. We want to reach the elimination stage after the groups and then go further as we can’t get, depending on the opponents that will be draw”.

Diogo Maia, despite his youth knows well major competitions:
“I’ve been in several international competitions, like two editions of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) Games, one at Africa and other at Portugal, winning both. I’ve also been in the European Championships at Lithuania and in the CEV Beach Volleyball U20 European Championships at Austria, without obtaining the results that we wanted. I believe we’ll do better now in 2013. Here it will be the best teams of this age group. Facing them would be good, but winning would be outstanding.
Most important will be playing at our best and show our value. The work being done at the centre has been great and that’s very important, because only with hard work we can reach the level of some of our opponents. It will be great playing at Porto as the crowd will be there to support the home team. We’ll have the confidence of being around with friends and we hope that the crowd can pack the stadium”.

Vanessa Paquete agrees:
“Our main goal is to dignify our country by obtaining a good result. We know that other countries have the advantage as they practice throughout the year.
We are working well, two times a day and a lot of physical work to be able to put a good fight for the top places, and I believe that if we continue this line the results will eventually show up. The Brazilian teams are for sure very strong. At the time we will evaluate and find a strategy to help us fight for a good result.
It’s summer time, a lot of people is at the beach and the fact that we’re representing our country will attract them to the stadium”.

More info: www.fivb.org / www.facebook.com/fpvoleibol / www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/U19/2013