Antalya, Turkey, May 14, 2014. The technical meeting before the 2014 CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Final was held tonight at the Grida City Hotel in Antalya and the participating teams were drawn into the six preliminary round pools per gender.
The postponement of the matches that had been scheduled for Thursday due the national mourning period declared in Turkey caused additional changes to the competition schedule. In order to complete the entire tournament within the two available competition days, Friday and Saturday, it was decided that the classification matches originally meant to determine the final standing of the top six teams for each gender will not be held. This way the Final in Antalya will still point out those young European hopefuls who will represent the continent in beach volleyball at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, but will not single out specific winners of the inaugural 2014 CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup.
Since the eight teams per gender that had won their zonal pool last year were granted the top seeds for the drawing of lots, but the pools are only six two of them ended up featuring two of these top-seeded teams. So on the men’s side Italy and Germany will have to face each other in Pool E, while Austria and the Czech Republic will battle it out in Pool F. Similarly, Lithuania and Ukraine will keep each other company in the women’s Pool E, while the young ladies from Russia and Germany will have a direct clash in Pool F.
Pool composition:
Women:
Pool A: Austria, Norway, France
Pool B: Switzerland, Israel, Netherlands
Pool C: Latvia, Greece, Poland
Pool D: Czech Republic, Turkey, Belarus
Pool E: Lithuania, Ukraine, Turkey 2
Pool F: Russia, Germany, Italy
Men:
Pool A: Ukraine, Cyprus, Finland
Pool B: Latvia, Norway, France
Pool C: Russia, Slovakia, Bulgaria
Pool D: Poland, Turkey, Spain
Pool E: Italy, Germany, Turkey 2
Pool F: Czech Republic, Austria, Lithuania
CEV Supervisor Erik Schmidt, CEV Referee Delegate Bert van der Heul, CEV Medical Delegate Sergio Cameli and Tournament Director Oguz Degirmenci attended the technical meeting and provided answers to the questions raised in regards to the new schedule and to the coaches inside the field of play test to be conducted as in the zonal phase.
They also explained the competition formula, according to which the teams classified second and third in the preliminary phase pools will be drawn to face each other in the first elimination round; the winners of the first round will then lock horns with the teams classified first from the pools in decisive battle to determine the six ticket holders for Nanjing. In case the host country Turkey qualifies both teams among the top six ranked spots, it is entitled to only one spot in the Youth Olympics, so the next best placed teams will fill up the spot as well as any extra spots, if such are granted to Europe by the IOC / FIVB.
Oguz Degirmenci expressed the sadness of the Organizing Committee and of the Turkish Volleyball Federation caused by the tragic event at the Turkish coal mine which took over 270 deaths and sent out condolences to the victims’ families. He added that the TVF is really proud to host Europe’s best young beach volleyball players in Antalya.
Click here for more detailed information on the 2014 CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Final.