Guadalajara, Mexico, October 14, 2011 – The women’s volleyball tournament of the XVI Pan American Games starts on Saturday featuring four matches at the Pan American Volleyball Complex with a seating capacity of 4,000 spectators.
The first match of the day see United States pitted against Puerto Rico at 13:00 (local time) followed by the match of defending champions Cuba against Canada at 15:00.
Hosts Mexico meets Peru at 18:00 and the opening day action concludes with the match between world top-ranked Brazil battling Dominican Republic.
The women’s tournament has seen different champions in the past three editions of the games with Brazil winning in 1999 at Winnipeg, Canada, the Dominican Republic winning at home in Santo Domingo 2003 and Cuba taking the title at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2007.
Cuba is the most prolific gold medal winner of this tournament claiming a total of eight crowns including seven in a row starting in Cali, Colombia in 1971 and continuing the streak until Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1995.
Volleyball was included in the Pan American Games program for the first time in 1955 and besides Cuba, Brazil has won three gold medals with Mexico, United States and Dominican Republic each with one title.
The eight-team competition begins has sides divided into two pools. The pool winners advance directly to the semifinal phase while second and third place teams move on to the quarterfinals. Brazil will play in Pool A along with Cuba, Dominican Republic and Canada. Pool B includes the United States, Peru, Puerto Rico and hosts Mexico. The preliminary round schedule is as follows:

Saturday 14
Pool A: Cuba v Canada,  Brazil v Dominican Republic
Pool B: United States v Puerto Rico, Mexico v Peru
Sunday 15
Pool A: Cuba v Dominican Republic, Brazil v Canada
Pool B: United States v Peru, Puerto Rico v Mexico
Monday 16
Pool A: Dominican Republic v Canada, Brazil v Cuba
Pool B: Peru v Puerto Rico, United States v Mexico

Year by Year Podiums

Year Gold Silver Bronze
1955 MEX USA BRA
1959 BRA USA PER
1963 BRA USA MEX
1967 USA PER CUB
1971 CUB PER MEX
1975 CUB PER MEX
1979 CUB PER BRA
1983 CUB USA PER
1987 CUB PER USA
1991 CUB BRA PER
1995 CUB USA CAN
1999 BRA CUB USA
2003 DOM CUB USA
2007 CUB BRA USA

COBRA volleyball net