01/05/2015 16:51
Turkey have high hopes ahead of Continental Cup home tournament
2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup - Men & Women
Fethiye, Turkey, May 1, 2015. After playing host to last year’s CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championships, Fethiye – one of Turkey’s most popular seaside resorts – will host this coming weekend one of eight 3rd Round tournaments for the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup. The matches on schedule for Pool H will be taking place on Saturday and Sunday at the Calis Beach Volleyball Centre with Turkey’s women playing teams from Switzerland, Poland and Belgium whilst the home heroes will test the likes of Latvia, England and Croatia. The eventual winners will move on straight to the finals scheduled for next year while the second and third-placed teams will continue their campaign with the 4th Round of the competition coming up later this summer.
Click here for further information on the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup
The 3rd Round tournaments are being covered extensively also on the CEV’s Facebook page and Twitter account, make sure you also use the official hashtag #CEVContinentalCup!
A press conference was organised on Friday right on the eve of the competition with CEV Technical Supervisor Bojana Bogicevic-Dukic, TVF Board member Mehmet Cakmak, Tournament Director Oguz Degirmenci, Turkey’s coach Carlos Galletti and players Fatma Yildirim and Murat Giginoglu all in attendance.
Mr Cakmak made the opening speech on behalf of the local Organising Committee and said: “I would like to thank the CEV for providing us with the opportunity to host this competition here in Fethiye. I would also like to thank the Fethiye and Calis Beach Volleyball Association on behalf of the Turkish Volleyball Federation. The TVF is working very hard to support the development of Beach Volleyball and of the necessary infrastructure in this area. This tournament is joined by both women’s and men’s teams. We are having the perfect weather here to play Beach Volleyball in this venue and would like to wish the best of luck to all players, referees and also to the members of the Organising Committee. I am hoping for a good and successful tournament. Our Federation’s plan is to qualify one team for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. I hope we will be able to represent Turkey at the Olympics in Beach Volleyball as well.”
CEV Technical Supervisor Bojana Bogicevic-Dukic was pleased with the conditions available in Fethiye: “It is a great pleasure for Europe’s Volleyball family to stage an event here with the TVF and Fethiye playing host to this tournament. The Continental Cup is still a fairly new event on the calendar and it is really good that the players are representing their countries here rather than playing for themselves. The hospitality from the TVF and the city of Fethiye has been great so far and I am confident that it will continue the same way through to the end of the tournament. I invite the local people to attend the tournament and support the Turkish teams as well as all other players.”
Tournament Director Oguz Degirmenci stressed that this tournament is an important step for Turkey on the way to the next round and Rio 2016. Turkey’s coach Carlos Galletti added: “I would like to thank the city of Fethiye for their support in hosting this event. They have been extremely supportive so far. We are working very hard to further develop our sport in Turkey. We are ready for the challenges ahead and since as you know, the Continental Cup is a qualifying event for Rio 2016, we expect a very difficult tournament.”
The captain of Turkey women’s national team, Fatma Yildirim, said: “We are very happy to be here in Fethiye and have many memories from a stop of the Turkish Pro Beach Tour we played here last year with many spectators in attendance. I expect even more interest for this tournament as we are playing to make it to the next round. We will try our best to make it there but to achieve this feat we will need full support from our fans.”
Murat Giginoglu, one of the leading players in Turkey men’s Beach Volleyball team, added: “We had very good preparations ahead of this competition. This is a very important tournament and we have very competitive teams in this Pool. We are well prepared and we want to make it to the Olympics next year. I look forward to the start of the competition as all other players on our team also do.”
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