Rio de Janeiro Brazil, June 6, 2016 – The Brazilian women’s team have held their first training session in the Arena Carioca 1, located within the Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, which will stage the
FIVB World Grand Prix this weekend.
Brazil will face Italy on Thursday, Japan on Friday and Serbia on Sunday with the games being broadcast live by TV Globo and on the
FIVB YouTube Channel.
“It is very important to contest a tournament before the Olympic Games,” said Brazil captain Fabiana. “We are training hard but official games are also very important for our preparation, and this is a very traditional tournament that Brazil has won the most. We want to win this title again.”
Coach Jose Roberto Guimaraes also assessed the value of the World Grand Prix as his team prepares for the Olympics.
“Of course, our programme is geared to August, the Olympic Games, but we want to play well, to use these matches against the best teams in the world as preparation and observe our opponents,” he said. “We are fine and working well, and we are focused. We can already feel some of the atmosphere of the Games and the closer we get, the higher the energy we feel.”
Brazil will be going after their 11th World Grand Prix title and will be looking for a better finish than last year’s third place. From 2004 to 2015, Brazil won seven titles, three silver medals and a bronze.
The Arena Carioca 1 will host basketball matches in this summer’s Olympic Games.