The Mexican east-coast city of Chetumal is currently hosting a 3 star FIVB World Tour event that bears its name. In it, Mexican fans were able to see the country’s new faces of beach volleyball. Mexico fielded four teams for the event, and six of its eight athletes, all under 20 years of age, made their international debuts.
Experienced Martha Revuelta is the exception to Mexico’s young roster. The 32-year-old has been in the international scene since 2005 and has played in more than 70 events. She was also a very competent indoor player as well, being a constant fixture in Mexico’s national team for almost a decade. She played at the 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2009 Pan-American Cups and the 2007 Pan American Games.
In an interview to FIVB.com, Martha saw with very good eyes her compatriots’ participation in such a high profile event:
“I love that the young teams were given the opportunity to play in this event.Like them, I started at a very young age and I remember that when I first played internationally, in Acapulco in 2005, it was huge. I hope in a few years some of they can become the number one team in the country. Gutierrez and Valdez, who just played in the Youth Olympics, won one of their matches and that allowed them to stay at least one day longer in the tournament, which is great.
We have a National Tour and there was also a qualification event for this tournament. And that was great because it allowed them to play the other teams and understand that the international level is different and that if they want to go this way, they need to give some steps forward.
Mexico is a very large country and the athletes are all spread out, so I don’t get many chances to practice with them. I just returned to the sport last January, so I’m still getting to know all these young players better, but it’s obvious to me that there’s a lot of talent there. And a big difference is that unlike in the past, all of them have already started playing at the beach and not indoors, which is great.”
Revuelta and partner Zaira Orellana defeated USA’s Ledoux/Urango and Japan’s Suzuki/Murakami in the main draw. They then went on to defeat Sweden’s Yoken/Ogren in Round 2 before being eliminated by USA Ledoux/Urango.
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