06-JUNE-2013
FIVB 2013 WORLD LEAGUE:
NATIONAL TEAM AT CANADA

The National Team, coached by Flavio Gulinelli arrived yesterday evening at Mississauga, Canada, where will face its second Pool C opponent, tomorrow and Saturday. [Calendar]

The long trip to Canada was not easy for the athletes; therefore a recovery is needed…
“In this first day we have scheduled a tactical training for the afternoon. In the morning we will do some stretching and two video observation sessions (morning and afternoon). The afternoon training will be a general test. Let’s see how the players spent the night after a long trip and their reaction to the “jet lag”. Anyway we are here to do our best and we hope to return to Portugal at least with a victory”, said Flavio Gulinelli.

“I saw my name in the called to play list with surprise, but also with join and proud. I’m confident that the National Team will achieve its goals, as I found a very motivated and hardworking group, and sooner or later the results will appear with this new generation”, stated Ubirajara Pereira, 2002 National Team captain and 8th ranked at the World Championship.

If “Bira” is one of the most experienced players, Ricardo Alvar makes his debut:
“I’m very happy to be here, and for this vote of confidence by the coaching staff. I’ve been working hard and I intend to seize this opportunity to play in the FIVB World League. I believe that our team has the skills to stand in the first three ranked teams in this pool and to prepare well for the 2014 World Championship qualification”.

Once again, the National Team isn’t alone, even being in the North American Continent. The team will be supported by all Portuguese through the live broadcast of Sport TV and by some Portuguese who live in Canada, like Denise, team’s guide, Canadian born daughter of Portuguese from Barcelos or Deolinda, Hotel Delta Toronto staff member, who came from the North of Portugal and works here for two decades already.

Portugal will play both matches against Canada at the Hershey Center, Mississauga, in the upcoming Friday and Saturday, both at 19h00 local timing (00:00 GMT) with the live coverage of Sport TV.

The return to Portugal is set to June 9 – flight TS 764 – Toronto / Porto, 23h55 / 11h50 (June 10).

The National Team started its 2013 FIVB World League participation at Finland (31 May, June 1) and will play away two more weekends: Canada (June 7-8) and The Netherlands (June 22-23), finishing the Intercontinental Round at Guimarães versus Japan (June 29-30) and South Korea (July 6-7) [Official Programme]

Contact

More info: www.fivb.org / www.fpvoleibol.pt/WL2013 / Força Volei