22/06/2017 11:49
Oranjes to enjoy home-court advantage in third-round women’s World Champs qualifier
2018 FIVB Volleyball World Championship - Women
Luxembourg, June 22, 2017. The third and last round of European qualifications to the 2018 edition of the FIVB Volleyball Women’s World Championship will take place August 22 to 27 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The eventual winners as well as the runners-up of this single round robin tournament will book their ticket to Japan – where the World Championship will be taking place next year.
The Netherlands will be trying to use the home-court advantage and to qualify to next year’s Worlds after they failed to do so in early June when losing to Azerbaijan the ‘big match’ of the second-round qualifier they contested in Baku.
However, they can expect stiff competition from the runners-up of the five remaining second-round qualification tournaments – i.e. Greece, Czech Republic, Belgium, Bulgaria and Slovenia.
The silver medallists from the 2015 EuroVolley, the Netherlands, who finished fourth at last year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, are probably the ‘hottest’ candidates for one of the top spots in this third-round qualifier, but there is much to look forward to when these six elite teams will be taking to the court in Rotterdam in late August.
After completion of the second round of qualifications, the European contingent for the FIVB Women’s World Championship Japan 2018 already includes the likes of Russia, Serbia, Italy, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Germany, who all emerged on top of the charts from their respective qualifiers.
A detailed match programme will follow in due course.
|