Macao, June 07, 2012 - The FIVB World Grand Prix Macao 2012 kicks off at the Macao Forum tomorrow (8 June).  Competing in this year’s event are Argentina, China, Puerto Rico and Thailand.

The Organizing Committee held a press conference and invited the participating teams to meet and share their thoughts with the media.  Mr. Vong Iao Lek, President of the Organizing Committee, extended his warmest welcome to the teams and officials and thanked FIVB for their continuous trust in Macao to stage this prestigious competition. He is confident that volleyball fans worldwide will witness some wonderful matches in the next few days.

The four coaches then in turn introduced their teams and revealed their thoughts for the Macao leg.

Argentina coach Horacio Bastit: “I would like to thank the organisers of the event.  We are very pleased to be here, and we are happy with the nice hospitality that we receive.  This is the first time we play in Macao and we are expecting some good games.”

China coach Yu Juemin: “I would like to thank FIVB and the local Organising Committee for the long-term support and concern for Team China, especially for our players’ conditions and our match performance.  We place high importance on our performance here as this is the first-round of the event.  We will try our best to play well in all the matches.”

Puerto Rico coach David Aleman: “It is an honour to be here in Macao.  We worked very hard to be here and we know this is a hard competition.  We will try our best to put up a good show in Macao.”

Thailand coach Kiattipong Radchatagriengkai: “Our team is very happy to be in Macao.  We have undergone good preparations and we are confident that we will play well in the competition.”

The first round of matches in Macao starts with Argentina v Thailand at 17.30 and China v Puerto Rico at 21.00.