Lausanne, Switzerland, June 1, 2016 – Emilce Sosa is a talisman for the Argentina women’s team with her charisma, talent and experience, but she’s also a favourite with the fans, always willing to sign a picture or be in a selfie.
Ahead of Argentina’s home series (June 3-5) at Tucuman in the FIVB World Grand Prix, “Mimi” talked about the team’s preparation and objectives.
“We arrive well-prepared,” she said. “We’ve been doing double shifts in training, placing a lot of importance on our tempo.”
Argentina warmed up with a couple of friendly matches against Bulgaria.
“Those friendly matches were very important for us and we have to make the most of them,” Sosa said.
Argentina is now focusing on their sixth straight appearance in the annual FIVB Grand Prix. Asked about the team’s expectations for the tournament, Sosa said: “Always our goal is to improve our level of play. We know that in recent years we have played on equal terms with everybody and it shows that they now respect us more. We want to qualify for the Final Four and we will do everything to make that happen.”
It also helps that “Las Panteras” are getting plenty of media attention.
“Our presentation [to the media] was nice,” Sosa said. “I was famous!”
On a more serious note, she added: “I think the press is very important to show our work and everything we have achieved so far. Every day more and more accompany us, which is very rewarding.”
Later in the summer, Argentina will head to the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games where they will face Brazil, Russia, Japan, South Korea and Cameroon in Group A.
“The Olympic Games feature really powerful teams, but I see an area where we can make an impact,” Sosa said. “But we haven’t talked about it much within the squad because we are concentrating on our first competition. Everything depends on how well we do in the World Grand Prix and the Pan American Cup to see how we face up to that challenge.”