FIVB: Buenos Aires, Argentina, October 8, 2015 Argentinas mens team are travelling to Venezuela where they will take on the hosts as well as Columbia and Chile in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games, South America Qualifying Tournament.
Julio Velsacos team begin against Columbia on Friday, play Chile on Saturday and then finish off against Venezuela on Sunday.
It is the best part of the season and we have been waiting for the chance to qualify since London 2012, middle blocker Sebastian Sole said. These matches are played with our minds more than with the body and we have to focus hard on them.
It would be a mistake to think that we have already qualified and Venezuela showed in the match we played against them at the FIVB World Cup in Japan that they will fight for every ball.
Argentina have had a successful year and qualifying for Rio 2016 would be a fine way of ending their season. Four years ago they impressed at the London 2012 Olympic Games where they reached the quarter-finals.
This season they finished third in Group 2 of the FIVB Volleyball World League finals, fifth in the World Cup and then claimed silver at the South American Championships.
It has been hard to refocus on this tournament after such a long and demanding competition as the World Cup, but now we can look forward to these important matches, wing spiker Facundo Conte said.
We are improving and to be part of the Olympic Games would be outstanding. I will do all I can to be part of the Olympic Games in Rio.