Brazil, Canada, China and Korea will be on the court on the opening day – watch live on VBTV
Captain Gabi Guimarães will lead Brazil at home in the opening week of the VNL
A two-week period of action-packed elite volleyball matches in Rio de Janeiro is set to begin on Tuesday, when the Brazilian city hosts the first two women’s duels of the Volleyball Nations League 2024.
Between then and Sunday, hosts Brazil, Canada, China, the Dominican Republic, Korea, Serbia, Thailand and the United States will each play four matches at the iconic Maracanãzinho stadium to start their campaigns in the event. The men will play at the same venue next week.
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The first day of action of the VNL 2024 will already bring encounters with major implications in the race for the last four spots at the Paris 2024 Olympics as they involve two teams still in the mix, with China facing Asian rivals Korea at 17:30 local time (20:30 GMT) and Canada meeting Brazil at 21:00 local time (00:00 Wednesday, GMT).
China are currently the second team still not qualified for Paris 2024 better placed in the FIVB World Rankings, appearing in sixth place, with 329.65 points. The match against Korea won’t help them add a lot to their total, as the most points they get out of it is 0.93 in case of a 3-0 victory, but dropping the game will cost them at least 14.07 points, which could favor teams ranked below them.
The Chinese, who were the first to start their preparations for the VNL, reuniting players in February, won’t have superstar outside hitter Zhu Ting, who recently announced her comeback to the national team, available in Rio, but fellow outside hitter Zhang Changning will be back for the first time since the Tokyo Olympics, joining middle blocker Yuan Xinyue and outside hitter Li Yingying this week.
Korea, who have only 93.72 World Ranking Points and currently appear in 40th place, will try to start climbing the rankings and will have new coach Fernando Morales on the bench for the first since his arrival, a few months ago.
In the second match of the day, Canada will try to start a push to return to the Olympics for the first time since Atlanta 1996. They are currently the fifth team among the ones not yet qualified and are looking from the outside, but could close the gap with an upset as a victory over the South Americans could give them up to 14.65 points –…
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