World Olympic Qualifiers

Puerto Rico in Portugal and Cuba in Germany

 

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, March 3, 2008 – Puerto Rico will play in Portugal and Cuba in Germany during the Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournaments to be held in the cities of Espinho and Dusseldorf respectively. The allocation of teams was decided after the drawing of lots in Tokyo on Monday.

 

Algeria, Argentina, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Indonesia, Italy, Poland, Puerto Rico found out their fate after the process conducted by FIVB First Executive Vice President Mr. Jizhong Wei at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo to decide entry to the tournaments in Tokyo, Japan, Espinho, Portugal, and Düsseldorf, Germany.

 

The winner of each tournament will qualify for Beijing. In Tokyo, the winner of the tournament plus the best Asian team (even if the winner is Asian) will qualify for the Games, completing the qualification process.

 

Espinho, Portugal

Indonesia, Puerto Rico and Poland will compete alongside hosts Portugal from May 30 to June 1.

 

Düsseldorf, Germany

Chinese Taipei, Cuba and Spain will compete alongside hosts Germany from May 23 to 25.

 

Tokyo, Japan

Algeria, Argentina and Italy will join hosts Japan in Tokyo from May 31 to June 8.

 

The Tokyo event also doubles up as the Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournament and Australia, Korea, Iran and Thailand, as the four best-ranked teams at the Asian Continental Championship, complete the line-up.

 

Brazil, Russia, Bulgaria, Egypt, Serbia, USA and Venezuela have already booked their tickets to Beijing through the FIVB 2007 World Cup or Continental Qualification Tournaments, while China has qualified as the host country.