Santo Tirso, Portugal, May 3, 2005 – Hosts Portugal are upbeat about making an excellent start to a new phase in Portuguese women’s Volleyball when the third and final European 2006 Women’s World Championship first round tournament (Europe Pool B) begins on Wednesday in Santo Tirso, Portugal.

Portugal will be joined by Austria, Slovak Republic, Belarus and Slovenia in a single round competition over five days, with the top two teams advancing through to the second round.
 
The winner of the Portuguese tournament will head to Croatia for a second round tournament with the hosts, Serbia and Montenegro and the Czech Republic while the second-placed team will book a second round spot to face Greece, France and the Ukraine in Greece.

Portuguese coach Prof. António Guerra believes his young, but stable group of players are joined together by motivation and that will help his side go far.
Pic: Portuguese fans get behind their side
“We are to begin a journey in which we hope we will be able to compete to the best of our abilities,” he said. “It is the unity of the squad which is driving us at the moment and we hope we can at least win one or two games as we start a new cycle for women’s Volleyball.”

The motivation and confidence that lives in the breast of the Portuguese team is highlighted by 23-year-old Ana Sofia André, one of the most experienced players in the squad.

“The environment is very good,” she said. “In the beginning we hardly knew each other and there were some new faces but that did not cause any problems, everyone has integrated well.

“We are all extremely motivated as we begin a cycle that we hope will bring better results in the long term. We need to invest time and effort now so that the results will appear in years to come, for to build a good team, a solid base is necessary.”

This week also sees two tournaments feature in the 2006 Men’s World Championship with two first round events (Europe Pool C and South America Pool A) in Tulcea, Romania and Mar del Plata, Argentina respectively starting on Friday.

Romania, Belgium, Norway and Belarus will play off in Romania for one ticket through to the second round while Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay will play in Argentina for a spot in the final round.