2008 Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament- Espinho, Portugal

Portugal dreams of their first ever Olympic slot Espinho, Portugal, May 28, 2008- Portugal head coach Jorge Schmidt is dreaming to bring the Olympic ticket to his team for the first time in history, but the matter will not be easy for the Brazilian coach who wants to clinch the qualification slot from the World Olympic Qualification Tournament to start at Nave Municipal de Espinho hall here in Portugal on Friday. The competition will feature beside the organizers of Portugal, the 2006 World Championship silver medalists Poland, Norceca vice Champions Puerto Rico and Asian runner up Indonesia. “We will do our best but the qualification will not be easy against these world class teams,” Said Schmidt less than to two days to start the competition. “I dream of the moment that I can see my team clinching the Olympic ticket specially after we have got all the help from the Portuguese volleyball Federation and the National Olympic Committee. We made good preparations through the local camps, and then we played friendly matches against Slovenia and Cuba. The participation in the European championship helped us to play strong matches in our way to play this qualification tournament as we faced strong countries like Bulgaria who came first ahead of our team in the European qualification.” He added. The highly favorite Poland wants to return to the competition track after the great disappointment in the European championship qualifications where they lost twice. The Olympic ticket will be the only way to correct the situation. Coming with most of the squad that emerged in Japan 2006 World Championship, Poland is the biggest favorite for the Olympic tickets. “We want to play better than we did in the European qualifications, but of course Portugal with the aid of the spectators will be a strong team to face,” Said Poland head coach Raul Lozano. “We want to qualify for the second time in a raw after Athens 2004 and for the third time in 4 successive Olympics, but the players should know that the way will not be easy.” He concluded. Indonesia in contrary is coming with the least experience between the participating teams as they play for the first time against three European teams who have more experience than the Asian representative. Indonesia team didn’t have enough preparation for this prestigious tournament as the local league has finished since only 20 days. “We prepare through only a short camp in Indonesia before coming her,” Said the Chinese head coach of Indonesia team Hu Xinyo after the first training session in Portugal. He added that the local league lasted three months that didn’t allow the national team to collect and even there was no possibility of playing friendly matches. “I think it is difficult also to face three European teams while as my players used to play only against the Asian teams in the different competitions.” He added. Puerto Rico will be a team to see in this competition with their usual international experience. Their head coach Carlos Cardona is optimistic to gain the honor of qualifying to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. “we had a preparation program in 2 stages the first was in Puerto Rico as we spent a local camp, then the second was through European journey in Italy and France where we played against both teams,” Said Puerto Rico head coach Carlos Cardona. The Argentinean coach followed that his team will do the best to win the tournament. “We know that in order to qualify we have to win the three matches and we will work on that. The only team we don’t know about is Indonesia while we played before against Poland and Portugal.” He said. Photo caption Portugal team dreams of Olympic slot