Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 25, 2015 –
After the seventh stop of the South American Beach Volleyball Tour, the South
American Volleyball Confederation confirmed the pairs that will represent the
continent at the 2015 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships that will be
held from June 26 to July 5.
The teams from Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay
and Venezuela will compete in the women’s competition, while Argentina, Brazil,
Chile and Venezuela will compete in the men’s competition.
Olympian Jesus Villafane and partner Jackson
Henriquez, will represent Venezuela with their compatriots Olaya Pazo-Norisbeth
Agudo. After the Cochabamba stop, the Venezuelan women’s and men’s teams stood
at second place with 1,140 and 1,180 points, respectively.
South American countries will have different
stages to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games – the first one is the World
Championship, then the Continental Cup, and finally by its FIVB World Ranking.
“I am very proud, happy and satisfied with
this qualification with my partner Jackson,” Villafane said after qualifying
for the World Championship. “The main goal is to finish strong among the top
nine teams in the world. I think if we train and concentrate well, we can
obtain a better result.”
Paraguayan pair Michelle Valiente/Erika
Mongelos have the same wishes. For the second time, Michelle, at the age of 16,
will participate in the World Championship.
“I will try to be as clam as possible to
finish among the best eight teams in the world,” Valiente said. “It is a very
hard goal but we can only think big.”
The teams representing South American are:
Men's:
Argentina - Pablo Bianchi/Julian Azaad
Brazil - Álvaro Filho/Vítor Felipe
Chile - Rodrigo Salinas/Matías Tobar
Venezuela - Jesús Villafañe // Jackson
Henríquez
Women's:
Argentina - Ana Gallay/Georgina Klug
Paraguay - Michelle Valiente/Erika Mongelos
Uruguay - Fabiana Gómez/Eugenia Nieto
Venezuela - Olaya Pazo/Norisbeth Agudo