Fethiye, Turkey, September 17, 2014. Turkey will host the 2014 CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship on from September 18 through 21 in Fethiye, thus closing the CEV season for under age beach volleyball competitions.
A pre-tournament press conference was held at the Liberty Hotel in Fethiye on Wednesday, with the attendance of CEV Technical Supervisor Felipe Pascual, Tournament Director Oguz Degirmenci, Turkish National Federation Delegate Erkal Tas, Turkish Beach Volleyball National Team Manager Sinem Beltan, Vice President of Fethiye Municipality Mete Atay and Irmak Keskin, Merve Nezir, Hasan Huseyin Mermer and Sefa Urlu, four of the sixteen Turkish players participating in the competition.
Oguz Degirmenci, who made the opening speech at the conference, gave information about the tournament: “We are very happy to host one of CEV’s most important championships. The continent’s best U22 teams will be competing. Turkey is participating with four men’s and four women’s teams. We invite the people of Fethiye to the Çaliş Beach Volleyball Centre. We hope to organize even bigger tournaments in this beautiful town in the future.”
Felipe Pascual thanked the Turkish Volleyball Federation for the organization. “I thank everyone who is working very hard for this organization,” he stated. “This will be the last beach volleyball event for CEV this year. I wish good luck to all players and coaches.”
“It is a great pleasure to host the best young beach volleyball players in Fethiye,” said Mete Atay and added: “This will be a magnificent tournament. Beach volleyball is very important for Turkey. We will continue to support beach volleyball in the future.”
Erkal Tas expressed TVF’s appreciation of the great support from the Fethiye Municipality for the federation in recent years in terms of organization and facilities.
Sinem Beltan explained that the Turkish teams had been working very hard to prepare for this European Championship. “We had a very long training period for this event and we played so many tournaments,” the manager said. “I am sure our players will do their best and they will be successful.”
Merve Nezir, one of the Turkish players, said that they want to represent Turkish beach volleyball as best as they can and Irmak Keskin stated that their goal is to achieve big success after their hard and long training period.
Hasan Huseyin Mermer underlined that all their previous tournaments were in a way preparation for this European Championship. “We worked for this competition all summer. This is the main target for us. We hope the people of Fethiye will show up and support us.”
“We want to perform well in front of our home crowd. We will do our best. I believe we will achieve great success,” Sefa Urlu added.
Click here for more detailed information on the competition.