01/04/2016 15:43
Gazprom-Ugra vie for historic European title on Siberian soil
2016 CEV Volleyball Cup - Men
Surgut, Russia, April 1, 2016. April 2 is probably the most important day in the 20-year-long history of Gazprom-Ugra SURGUT. It is indeed the very first time that this team is fighting for a European trophy, and namely for the crown of this year’s CEV Volleyball Cup – Men. On Tuesday Germany’s BERLIN Recycling Volleys claimed the first round of the finals (3-2) but the chances ahead of the re-match on Russian soil seem to be equal.
The players of Gazprom-Ugra are hoping to use the home court advantage even though the second matchup with the BR Volleys is expected to be a tough and dramatic one. The fans in Surgut expect a real Volleyball show to cap off this year’s CEV Volleyball Cup and so it will be. Gazprom-Ugra SURGUT will be trying to make history for the entire sports community of their home region for no local team has ever claimed a European trophy before. Back in 1994 Samotlor NIZHNEVARTOVSK also played the final of the CEV Cup but ended up losing to Italy’s Petrarca PADOVA. As a result, there is a lot of anticipation around the match with the BR Volleys, which will be attended also by the Governor of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Region, Ms Natalya Komarova.
Gazprom-Ugra and the BR Volleys know each other very well after playing for five sets only a few days ago. The coach of the German team, Roberto Serniotti, thanked the Russian counterpart for their warm welcome in Surgut and stressed that the journey – though a long one – went well.
The coach of Gazprom-Ugra, Ruslan Zhbankov, pointed out that his players have been busy on two fronts, i.e. the CEV Volleyball Cup and the Russian Superleague. “We have fallen down from second to fifth place in our national championship and people may think that we have kind of sacrificed the Russian league in order to win the CEV Volleyball Cup, but this is wrong. We want to achieve the best possible results in every competition we enter, but lately we have played top teams like Zenit KAZAN, Belogorie BELGOROD and Dinamo MOSCOW and as a result, we have fallen back in the standing of the national championship. However, there are still three rounds to go before the end of the season and we will be doing our best in order to improve our current position. That said, for the time being our focus is solely and exclusively on the CEV Cup.”
The Deputy Director of the Russian Volleyball Federation Mikhail Podlozny noted that the city of Surgut has a lot of experience in hosting major international Volleyball competitions. Surgut has indeed played host to home rounds played by the Russian national team in the last four editions of the FIVB World League. “Therefore I am confident that the final of the CEV Cup will be organised at the highest level,” he said. “We can only wait for the match to start and get ready to enjoy a terrific Volleyball show.”
|