The Dominican national women’s volleyball team, “The Caribbean Queens” will seek to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games this coming January. The president of the North, Central American and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (Norceca), Cristóbal Marte said the event will be dedicated to President Danilo Medina. He said the government contributed US$252,000 to pay for the rights of the tournament and pay for the “challenge” system that repeats the plays when there are doubts about who gets the point.
The Dominican Republic team will now host the NORCECA Qualification Tournament Tokyo 2020 to take place 8-13 January against teams representing Mexico, Canada and Puerto Rico with the winner earning the confederation ticket to the Olympic Games. The actual games will be played on 10-12 January 2020.
The Dominican team is the pre-tournament favorite. It has already competed in two Olympic Games – Athens 2004 and London 2012, finishing in the 8th and 5th places, respectively. If the team qualifies, volleyball would become the only Dominican team sport to participate in three Olympic Games.
Cristóbal Marte also announced that he reached an agreement with the Japanese city of Okayama and the Okyayama Volleyball Association to host a 10-day training camp for the Dominican Republic’s volleyball team before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The agreement also foresees future training camps in Okayama after the Tokyo Olympics.
Tickets for the games will go on sale in November 2019. The cost will be RD$200 to RD$500.
23 October 2019