17/05/2015 22:25
4 teams celebrate qualification for age-group World Championships
2015 FIVB U20 Women / U21 Men Volleyball World Championship - European Qualification
Luxembourg, May 17, 2015. The second and last stage of European qualification for this year’s FIVB Volleyball Men’s U21 / Women’s U20 World Championships came to a close on Sunday after an intense weekend where four teams – two per gender – got the right to represent the ‘Old Continent’ at the global competitions set to follow later this summer in Mexico and Puerto Rico. Slovenia and Poland claimed a spot in the men’s U21 event which is due to take place in Tijuana and Mexicali whilst Serbia and Russia compose the European contingent for the U20 women’s World Championship that was recently moved from Cyprus to Puerto Rico. More European teams may follow once the FIVB release the final list of participants as another five spots per gender are due to be assigned according to the respective World Rankings following the conclusion of all continents’ qualifications.
As for the men’s competition, 2014 European silver medallists Poland were the first ones to secure their travel to Mexico after recording two three-set wins at their home tournament in Belchatow. On Sunday the rising stars in red and white shirts completed their campaign with a third consecutive victory even though they decided to take on France playing with their second lines in the final match of the tournament. As for Slovenia, after finishing fourth at last year’s European Championship, the young players around Iztok Ksela also exploited the home advantage at Nova Gorica and started their quest for a ticket to Mexico by routing reigning European champions Russia on Friday. They followed up this historic result with another 3:0 victory over Belgium before on Sunday they claimed also the ‘grand finale’ with Germany in a direct fight for the sole spot available to make it to the World Championship.
The women’s competition was not less dramatic. Russia and Italy played an intense five setter on Saturday in Anapa where the home heroines eventually had the upper hand to secure their place for the competition taking place later this summer in Puerto Rico. 2014 U19 European champions Serbia were missing their superstar Tijana Boskovic in Ruma but they also used the opportunity to play on home soil to their advantage. After suffering a major blow and setback on Friday when they lost at the tie-break to France, Serbia got back on track sweeping aside the Czech Republic and their closest competitor Turkey to get the right to represent Europe at this year’s World Championship.
In the end, the four hosts of the four second-round qualification tournaments all provided their home fans with something to cheer about as the rising stars of European Volleyball made another small step towards the international elite of this sport.
Click here for further information, including detailed results, final standings, pictures and much more
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