Women's Volleyball World Grand Prix Finals to Kick Off in Macao"I can ensure you that the Cuban team will, as always, try to be in their best shape and every player will do her best," George Eugenio, head coach of the Cuban women's volleyball team, said at a press conference here on Tuesday."Here in Macao we'll have the world's strongest teams and the spectators can expect for the highest level of women's volleyball ever," said the veteran coach, who had been named Coach of the Century by FIVB, the sport's world governing body. He admitted that the defending champions had played fluctuated volleyball during the preliminary rounds in the three previous weeks, but that seemed not to have affected his confidence. "What I can ensure you is that every Cuban player shall do her best," he told reporters at the "Meet the Players Press Conference " prior to the final round of the 1 million U.S. dollars tournament, which kicks off here on Wednesday. His comments were echoed by Chinese head coach Chen Zhonghe, who had said the Chinese team, top ranked after the preliminaries though, had been unsteady during the earlier rounds. "Ours is a completely new team formed only four months ago and all the players except team captain Wu Yongmei are competing in their first world-class tournament," he said. "Aiming at obtaining international experience for our preparations for the 2004 Olympic Games, we field a team averaging 22 years at age. We shall learn from others in the Finals here and play every match in the most serious manner," he added. The eight teams for the Grand Prix Finals are divided into two pools, with hosts China and Russia, Japan and Germany in Pool A while Cuba, Brazil, United States and South Korea in Pool B. The opening day of the Finals will see single round-robin actions by Russia vs Japan, United States vs South Korea, Brazil vs Cuba and China vs Germany. The third and fourth finishers of the pools shall vie for the fifth to eighth places while the top two sides of the two pools will fight for the first to fourth places. The Finals close Sunday. |
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