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World League 2005 News
Pimienta hoping to see more of Greece
 Athens,
Greece, May 22, 2005 With Cuba currently
taking on Greece in a three-match friendly
series at the Peace and Friendship stadium in
Athens, Cuba captain Paval Pimienta has admitted
he expects to meet Greece twice in competitive
play over the next two years.
Cuba, who currently leads the friendly series
2-0 after a 3-0 win on Friday and a 3-2 win on
Saturday, have been impressive in their
preseason build up, having also beaten Argentina
3-1 earlier and Pimienta belives his young team
are on track for big things this year.
"We are aiming for two things this year, the
204cm giant said. The final round of the World
League and final round of the 2006 World
Championship in Japan, that is also important.
We are scheduled to play a World Championship
second round tournament in August with Canada,
Panama, and two other sides and we hope and we
believe that we can finish in the top two and go
to Japan. I hope and I wish we meet also Greece
there as well as in the World League."
Pic: Pimienta is an inspirational player in
Cuba's young side
With one more friendly match to play on Monday
both teams will prepare for their opening
World League matches on different pools which
sees Greece hosts Serbia and Montenegro in Pool
C and Cuba head to Bulgaria in Pool B.
Having first played for the Cuban national team
in 1996, Pimienta explained that matches against
international opposition like Greece in a
friendly atmosphere is of high importance for
Cuba, due to the small nature of their national
championship.
"We have a championship that lasts only three
months and involves only five teams, he told
www.volleyball.gr. For the remainder of the
year the national team is together and during
this time outside of competitions we play
friendly matches. In Cuba there is a big
importance put on the national team, in all
sports. We have a big training centre where all
the national teams from all the sports gather
and prepare for a lot of months."
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Competition Formula