Dominicans continue to capitalise on Volleyball Empowerment and top final Pool A standings
After their triumph at the NORCECA Continental Championship earlier this month, FIVB Volleyball Empowerment beneficiary the Dominican Republic created the biggest surprise of the women’s FIVB Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifiers, moving some of the world’s biggest powerhouses out of the way to top Pool A and book one of the six tickets to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on offer. The Queens of the Caribbean are in the impressive company of reigning two-time back-to-back world champions and Pool A runners-up Serbia, as well as Türkiye and Brazil from Pool B, and the United States and Poland from Pool C, as the first six national teams to join hosts France at the Games next year.
The Dominican Republic women’s national team has so far been allocated a total of CHF 510,000 worth of Volleyball Empowerment coach support. The team will compete at the Olympics for the fourth time in history. Reaching the quarterfinals at London 2012 is the country’s best result so far in Olympic volleyball.
Pool A in Ningbo, China
The Pool A tournament in Ningbo did not start well for the Dominican Republic after a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Czechia. Steered by Brazilian coach Marcos Kwiek, the team quickly changed course and went on a fantastic six-game winning streak, starting with victories over Canada (3-2), Ukraine (3-0) and Mexico (3-0). The team then made headlines with four-set defeats of world champs Serbia and mighty hosts China, and reaching a deciding match with the Netherlands on Sunday, in which they persevered through a five-set battle to celebrate a 3-2 (25-20, 20-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-12) success and a ticket to Paris 2024. The Dominican Republic was led by star outside hitter Brayelin Martinez (pictured in attack against Serbia in the photo), who became the second best scorer of the FIVB Road to Paris Volleyball Qualifiers.
Serbia remained undefeated until Friday’s upset at the hands of the Dominican Republic. On Saturday, the pool favourites bounced back with a straight-set win over the Netherlands, which was enough to reserve a spot at Paris 2024. After losing to China in four sets on Sunday’s last competition day, the southern European squad finished the pool as runners-up to the Dominicans on a 5-2 win-loss record and 15 points, a point clear of third-placed Canada.
China (4-3 and 14), Netherlands (4-3 and 13), Ukraine (2-5 and 6), Czechia (2-5 and 5) and…
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