The Argentine men’s volleyball team, bronze medalist at the Tokyo 2020 Games, will seek to qualify for Paris 2024 in the China Pre-Olympic, which will be played from September 30 to October 8.
For their part, Las Panthers will participate in the Japan Pre-Olympic, between September 16 and 24, according to the group draw announced this Friday by the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB).
In both branches, only 12 countries will qualify for the Olympic Games, and France has a guaranteed spot for being the host. In the September Pre-Olympics, the first two in each zone will directly access Paris 2024, while the rest of the places will be defined by various factors, including the world ranking and the continent from which they come (if they have not qualified).
The men’s team, led by Marcelo Méndez, will have China, Poland, the Netherlands, Canada, Mexico, Belgium and Bulgaria as rivals in Group C.
Group A will be played in Brazil with the local team, Italy, Iran, Cuba, Ukraine, Germany, the Czech Republic and Qatar; while Group B will be in Japan with the local team, the United States, Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt and Finland.
As for the women’s Pre-Olympic, Las Panteras -led since this year by Daniel Castellani, successor to Hernán Ferraro- will integrate Group B with Japan, Brazil, Turkey, Belgium, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico and Peru.
Group A will be in China with the local, Serbia, Dominican Republic, Netherlands, Canada, Czech Republic, Mexico and Ukraine. Finally, C will be played in Poland with the local team, Italy, the United States, Germany, Thailand, Colombia, Korea and Slovenia.
South American men’s club
UPCN de San Juan, current two-time champion of the Argentine Volleyball League, beat Murano de Chile 3-0 and had a chance of advancing to the semifinals of the men’s South American club event that is played in Minas Gerais and in which they also participate the City of Buenos Aires and Formosa Police teams.
UPCN prevailed with sets of 25-11, 25-8 and 25-15 and finished second in Zone C. Fabián Armoa’s team will have to wait to see if they qualify as the best second.
In this South American, the finalists will get a place for the Club World Cup to be played in India in November.