The Brazilian women’s team has arrived in Japan for the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship to be held in October. One of the most successful volleyball teams of all time, it has never won the gold medal at this tournament, and holds bittersweet memories of it when playing in Japan, having won silver in Osaka in 2006 and Tokyo in 2010.
“I believe we have improved both in physical and in technical aspects. We are still recovering some players who arrived with injuries, but we are evolving every day. We hope to have the whole team ready for the beginning of the World Championship. We know of the difficulty we will face in this competition from the level of opponents and the amount of games.” – José Roberto Guimarães
Here is Guimarães roster for the competition. Notice that he has taken 15 players to Japan, and will wait until the tournament’s eve to make the final cut. If Natália Zilio is fully recovered from her knee injury, then she’ll make the team and either Drussyla Costa or Amanda Francisco will get cut.
- Setters: Roberta Ratzke, Dani Lins
- Middle Blockers: Thaisa Daher, Adenizia Silva, Carol Silva, Beatriz Silva
- Outside Hitters: Natalia Martins, Gabriela Guimaraes, Amanda Jacinto, Drussyla Costa, Fernanda Garay
- Opposites: Rosamaria Montibeller, Tandara Caixeta
- Liberos: Gabriela Guimarães, Suelen Pinto
“It’s a precaution. But we’re seeing how Natalia is responding to training. She started jumping recently, we’re taking care of all her physical part, of that knee problem she had. She has responded very well, but we are taking great care of her. Therefore, the precaution of taking 15 players. Unfortunately, we have to do this. Since the World Cup is a long, difficult, stressful championship, and we need to cast, group to share the tasks, we can not start the World Cup with one player less.”
Brazil will debut against Puerto Rico in Hamamatsu on September 29. It then will go on to face the Dominican Republic, Serbia, Kenya and Kazakhstan in their first round matches.
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