14/09/2020 11:00
Team Belarus win Memorial Chailytko tournament ahead of #EuroVolleyU20M
News from the National Federations
Minsk, Belarus, September 13, 2020. The annual Volleyball tournament named after Lev Lvovich Chailytko took place at the MAPID sports complex in Minsk from September 9 to 11, 2020. The Volleyball Club Minsk organised the event for the 13th year in a row in cooperation with JSC MAPID. Despite the many difficulties and restrictions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, the event featured a number of men’s clubs from Belarus as well as the U20 national team, which is currently preparing for this year’s European Championship scheduled for later this month in Brno and Kurim, Czech Republic.
The U20 national team eventually claimed first place, followed by Stroitel MINSK and Marko VGTU VITEBSK, with Legion OBUHOVO finishing the competition in fourth place. Uladzislau Babkevich (U20), Maksim Bahatka (U20), Kanstantsin Tsiushkevich (Stroitel), Petr Lazuka (Marko-VGTU) and Pavel Dosevich (Legion) all claimed individual awards. The captain of Stroitel MINSK, Siarhei Akulich, received a special award for his contribution to the development of Volleyball in the Belarusian capital.
Valery Savchenko, a great friend of the Minsk Volleyball Club, a regular fan and head of the social department of JSC MAPID, delivered an emotional speech to all participants of the tournament. From his hands captains and best players received awards and other souvenirs as well.
The head coach of Stroitel MINSK, Aliaksandr Sinhaveyski
Aliaksandr Sinhaevski, the coach of Stroitel, shared his impressions at the end of the competition: “We are satisfied with the tournament, despite all the difficulties we have had to deal with in the organisation. We were able to extend such a tradition and additionally to provide a good opportunity for teams to practice. Of course, we have focussed our work on preparing for our participation in the CEV Champions League, but suddenly we found ourselves to deal with an unexpected scenario since in three days we have to play the final of last year’s championship. We had to quickly redesign our plans. I think we played better and better with each match and every day of the Chailytko tournament. We see that we still have some problems with our block and defence system. All of our players got some game practice, and all had the opportunity to show themselves. Now we are waiting for the return of those young players involved with the U20 national team. Our task is to integrate the players who have joined us during the off season, i.e. Pavel Audochanka and Petr Miniankou. We hope that they will soon fit into the rest of the team.”
Sergei Trotski was very happy with the performance of the U20 national team at the event held in Minsk this past week
The head coach of the men’s U20 national team, Sergei Trotski, was happy with what he got to see as well: “I have already said it many times, and I will not be tired to repeat that the performance that you see is the result of a lot of hard work: three or four hours a day in addition to training. There is a lot of individual work before and after each training session. Many have worked to their limits. We worked a lot with additional players and they all responded well. After all, we are preparing for a tournament where they will be playing up to eight matches in a bit more than a week. They will have to keep the same level from the start to the end of the tournament and any mistake can lead to an unsuccessful performance. That's why the first two games at the Chailytko were an opportunity to focus on concentration and minimising mistakes. In the third game, after two victories in the previous matches, I could see how my players deal with stressful situations. We could have won 3-0 but it is good that the match went into a tiebreak, and I was very interested to see how the players would behave in such a stressful situation. They did very well and they withstood the pressure with hard work and patience. I liked their attitude. I am very happy for them. I will not get tired of repeating that I am proud of them and their work. They are good for me.”
Belarus will compete in Pool II at #EuroVolleyU20M in Brno and Kurim, along with the national teams of Russia, Germany, Turkey, Ukraine and the Netherlands.
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