Istanbul, Turkey, March 29, 2014. The city of Istanbul is bracing itself for the third European final about to take place there this weekend. After hosting the 2014 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup - Men’s and the 2014 CEV Volleyball Cup - Women's finals on Saturday, with the participation of the local teams of Fenerbahce SK, the magnificent Burhan Felek volleyball hall is ready to welcome the fans of Besiktas ISTANBUL on Sunday to support their team in their decisive match with Russia’s Zarechie ODINTSOVO of the battle for the 2014 CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup - Women.
The match will start at 18:00 local time on March 30. All volleyball fans should be aware that this year Turkey switches to Daylight Savings Time a day later than most of Europe, so on Sunday Turkish Time and Central European Time will be the same.
Both teams expect a tough second game, but are ready to take the trophy home.
Adnan Kistak, head coach of Besiktas is really eager to achieve a historic success with his squad. “Both teams fought very well in the first match of the final in Russia. We lost the game by 2:3, but yet we have the advantage to come home with a point from Odintsovo,” he said. “I hope we use this advantage in Istanbul and bring the cup to our museum for the first time in our club’s history. We want to present the cup to our country, to the board members, to the entire club and to the fans.”
“I do not want to talk before the match actually. But I think we will have the advantage on Sunday,” Natalia Hanikoglu, captain of Besiktas, added. “With our fans at Burhan Felek, I hope we will win the cup and become champions. But first we need to win the match by 3:0 or 3:1.”
“Besiktas is a very good team,” Zarechie head coach Vadim Pankov admitted. “We saw their performance in the first match we played. They have very good Turkish players and foreign players as well. It is going to be a tough match, but I hope we are going to be on the winning side and take the cup with us to Russia.”
“We are going to have a difficult match tomorrow, because Besiktas is a very talented team,” Zarechie captain Ekaterina Kosianenko agreed. “We saw it in Russia. Any win is enough for us on Sunday and we are here to achieve it.”
Click here for more details on Sunday’s final and/or here to watch it live on LAOLA1.tv.