27/01/2014 20:00
DOL ceremony sets the tone for greatest World Championship ever
2014 FIVB Volleyball World Championship - Men
Warsaw, Poland, January 27, 2014. The Drawing of Lots for the FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship Poland 2014 was held on Monday night at the Congress Hall of the Palace of Science and Culture in Warsaw. The DOL ceremony was attended by FIVB President Dr. Ary S. Graça F°, CEV President André Meyer and many illustrious guests, including Poland’s Minister of Sport and Tourism, Andrzej Bienat. The Championship will take place across six different cities – Katowice, Lodz, Wroclaw, Gdansk, Bydgoszcz and Krakow – from August 30 through September 21, with the opening match – starring the home heroes of Poland – to be played in front of more than 50,000 fans at the National Stadium in Warsaw.
Waiting for the qualification process to be completed in Africa (CAVB) and NORCECA, the composition of the four preliminary Pools reads as follows:
Pool A in Wroclaw: Poland, Argentina, Serbia, Australia, CAVB 3, and Venezuela
Pool B in Katowice: Brazil, NORCECA 2, Germany, CAVB 1, Korea, and Finland
Pool C in Gdansk: Russia, Bulgaria, NORCECA 3, CAVB 2, China, and NORCECA 5
Pool D in Krakow: Italy, NORCECA 1, Iran, France, NORCECA 4, and Belgium
With Poland, Brazil, Russia and Italy heading the four Pools, another 8 teams were seeded according to the serpentine system while the remaining 12 – those already qualified and those still to be determined – were drawn by three Volleyball legends, namely 2000 Olympic champion Vladimir Grbic (SRB), Player of the XX Century and two-time world champion (in 1990 and 1994) Lorenzo Bernardi (ITA) and Poland’s Volleyball glory Tomasz Wojtowicz, a world and Olympic champion in 1974 and 1976 respectively.
FIVB President Ary S. Graça, the President of the Polish Volleyball Federation Miroslaw Przedpelski and the President of Polsat, Miroslaw Blaszczyk, enjoyed the opportunity to unveil the official trophy of the Championship that will be at stake on September 21 as the final match takes place at the Spodek hall in Katowice.
Europe is represented at this year’s Men’s World Championship by 9 teams including hosts Poland, with reigning Olympic and European champions Russia standing out as one of the top favorites for the final crown.
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