For the first time ever, The Dominican Republic Under-20 women’s volleyball team defeated Brazil in the finals of the FIVB Women’s U20 World Championship that ended in Puerto Rico on Saturday, 19 September 2015.
This bodes well for new generation of women’s volleyball in the Dominican Republic. The country’s national women’s team has already been ranked sixth in the world during the FIVB World Cup held in Japan last year.
The FIVB website called the Dominican win “an unbelievable final”.
Reporting on the game, FIVB said that the Dominican players absorbed the energy of the huge number of supporting fans in Puerto Rico and prevailed in what is described as “a tremendously tough contest and a very hard tournament”.
FIVB reported: “The gold medal match was beyond the wildest expectations, as Brazil and Dominican Republic struggled for five exhausting sets. Brazil even had two championship points, but they failed to close it and the Dominicans were relentless to stamp the 3-2 (17-25, 25-21, 25-17, 24-26, 16-14).”
Team captain Brayelin Martinez, playing her last year in that category described the feat as a “once in a lifetime” moment. She scored 32 points in the game.
The final standing ended with the DR, Brazil, Italy, Japan, Serbia, Peru, Russia and Bulgaria.
Upon arrival to the Dominican Republic, Cristobal Marte, leading promoter of the volleyball in the Dominican Republic complained about the Dominican sports authorities’ lack of support for the players’ efforts. He said they do not have an adequate place to train and do not have medical insurance. He also complained that the government has not provided funds for airfares to major competitions, uniforms and other necessary support. He added that the volleyball pavilion was repeatedly being used for non-sports events, limiting training time for the players.
http://u20.women.2015.volleyball.fivb.com/en/news/unprecedented-glory-for-dominican-republic-at-womens?id=57616
http://u20.women.2015.volleyball.fivb.com/en
http://u20.women.2015.volleyball.fivb.com/en/news/its-once-in-a-lifetime-says-an?id=57615
http://u20.women.2015.volleyball.fivb.com/en/news/its-once-in-a-lifetime-says-an?id=57615