Volleyball World Cup: Argentina 2002

In despite of its worst ever crisis, Argentina will host, from 23 September to 13 October, a new edition of the Volleyball World Cup.

23 teams will struggle to obtain the championship in Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Santa Fe and another cities along the country.

Local authorities in charge of the organization of the tournament expect Argentina to receive over 8.000 tourist to attend to the cup. The most of them, from Brazil and Italy, whose national teams are considered to stand the best chances to obtain the first place.

However, at this time Kazakhstan leads the ranking of international tour reserves with 100 corporate packages confirmed, followed by Japanese, Italian, Bulgarian, Greek and French supporters. Therefore, in Buenos Aires, tourism agencies are being carefully prepared to assist visitors during their staying. Provisional estimations calculate in USD 3 million the amount of money tourist will spend only in that city.

Russian national team, one of the favourites to win, will play in Buenos Aires against France, Bulgaria and Tunisia in zone C. It should not be difficult for Russia to clinch to the following round where exigencies will surely be higher. Russia will count with its best stars during the tournament and expect Roman Iakovlev and Serguei Tetioukhine to be the outstanding figures of the team.

Volleyball in Argentina is considered one of the most popular sports, however it is far away from creating as enthusiasm as football or basketball. Anyway, Argentinians expect their team to reach the first positions after the cup has finished. It will be a long run and it is up to start.

Hernan Etchaleco PRAVDA.Ru Argentina

Photo: Russian Volleyball team, one of the favourites to win.