World’s leading volleyball players to compete in first Rio 2016 test event of the year
FIVB World League Finals will be staged at Maracanãzinho, the Olympic Games volleyball venue, in July
The Maracanãzinho was opened in 1954 and is considered the home of volleyball in Brazil (FIVB / Divulgação)
The first Rio 2016 test event of the year will bring some of the world’s leading volleyball players to the city for the FIVB World League Finals. The competition will be staged from July 14 to 19 at the Maracanãzinho, the venue that will host the volleyball competition during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The competition will be the second Rio 2016 text event, following last year’s successful Aquece Rio International Sailing Regatta, and will kick off the first of three ‘waves’ of text events that will be staged between July 2015 and May 2016.
“Hosting the world’s top volleyball players at the spiritual home of the sport in Brazil will be a fantastic way to start the first wave of Rio 2016 events,” said Agberto Guimarães, Rio 2016’s Executive Director of Sport. “Volleyball’s huge popularity in Brazil is well known, and guarantees that the competition will take place in an electric atmosphere.
“For the Rio 2016 Organising Committee, working together with our partners, this event will provide the opportunity to test operations in the competition area and train our staff who will work in the Rio 2016 Olympic volleyball events at the same venue.”
Attention will be focused on testing and observing in three areas in particular: preparation and operation of the field of play, the results system and sports presentation.
The Maracanãzinho opened in 1954 alongside the legendary Maracanã Stadium, which will host the Rio 2016 opening and closing ceremonies. As well as being the country’s top volleyball venue, the Maracanãzinho has hosted several elite international competitions, such as the 1990 men’s world championship, the 2007 Pan-American Games, as well as the FIVB World League Finals in 1995 and 2008.
Six men’s teams will compete in Rio to win the 26th edition of the FIVB World League. As the host nation, Brazil is automatically qualified, while four of the five remaining berths will be disputed by Australia, Iran, Italy, Poland, Russia, Serbia and the USA, who are in Group 1 in the Intercontinental Round. The final spot will be allocated to one of the 12 teams that will play in Group 2: Argentina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Cuba, Finland, France, Japan, Republic of Korea, Netherlands and Portugal.
