Puerto Rico celebrates 2011 World League Championship qualification
The Men’s National volleyball team of Puerto Rico achieved a milestone in the 2011 World League Qualification Tournament. There was a group of six teams (China, Portugal, Tunisia, Puerto Rico, Japan and South Korea) competing for berths in the 2011 World League Tournament. The Qualification Tournament concluded with Puerto Rico and South Korea emerging as winners. South Korea defeated Japan while Puerto Rico attained success by subduing China on 29th August 2010.
Puerto Rico has a huge fan-following and it promptly became the subject of millions of comments after their success over China. The Chinese team was equipped with experienced players and a formidable reputation in the world of volleyball. They appeared in many Olympic competitions, World League, World Championship, and other international competitions. But Puerto Rico pushed the mighty Chinese aside and snatched the 2011 World League spot from them. They also clashed with Portugal in the first round of the Qualification Tournament, but nothing could hold them back from moving ahead. The Puerto Ricans have re-written the history books of volleyball and the country is celebrating their great landmark in the city of San Juan.
The World League Championship is an annual event which is organised by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) and it is scheduled to make three stops in Puerto Rico next year. The local fans are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the FIVB.
The International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) is affiliated to more than 200 volleyball federations all over the World and Puerto Rico’s national team outshined some of the best volleyball federation teams this season. They achieved victory over global powers, such as Venezuela which was ranked number 15 in the international ranking. Similarly, World No. 10 China also received devastating defeat from Puerto Rico last month. The young team of Puerto Rico is enjoying good form and they aim to achieve a high ranking.
From the board of North, Central American and Caribbean Confederation (NORCECA), Puerto Rico is the only team which qualified for the World League Championship this year. By exhibiting of great skills, Puerto Rico has paved their way to the World League and it will make its debut in 2011.
The president of the Puerto Rican Volleyball Federation (FPV) credited the team’s members for this big breakthrough and expressed optimistic views about the future of volleyball in Puerto Rico. Nelson Perez, the President of FPV said, “What we experienced in Puerto Rico in these two series of qualification to the World League against Portugal and China has no precedents in the history of our sport. We are at the highest level of world volleyball. This is a historic achievement that pushes us to work harder than ever to continue preparing our national team and to organize the three world events to be held in Puerto Rico during the summer of 2011”.
Winning in the 2011 Qualification Tournament has set a new direction for the Puerto Rican Team. They have a bigger responsibility on their shoulders now and they have to work on their abilities and skills in order to live up to high expectations. Puerto Rico is going to be one of the hosts of the 2011 World League Championship for the first time, and all eyes will be on the home team. The hopes are high at this stage, but Puerto Ricans will have to wait and see if the team can deliver the same outstanding performance in 2011 World League Championship.
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