19/06/2012 16:00
Moscow gears up for Continental Cup final
CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup
Moscow, Russia, June 19, 2012. After playing host to the FIVB Grand Slam only 10 days ago, Russia’s capital city and the venue of Poklonnaya Gora return under the spotlight as the final stage of the CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup – Women will run there through this coming weekend, with one spot at stake to finally make it to the 2012 London Olympics.
The local heroines of Russia will be challenged by strong opponents from Austria, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands and Switzerland as they try to exploit the home advantage to fulfill their Olympic dream. Only the country coming out on top of the charts in Moscow will qualify one pair for the Olympic tournament and hence the battle is going to be quite fierce.
The CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup is returning back to Russia after the so-called Sub-Zonal Phase unfolded in Kaliningrad a couple of years ago while Kazan played host to the Zonal Phase in June 2011. After their disappointing performance in the capital city of Tatarstan, the Russian ladies got a bye for the semifinal stage as the organizer of the last and deciding act was pre-qualified for the final.
Moreover, only teams that have not pocketed their trip to London via the Olympic ranking are eligible to compete this weekend in Moscow, which means some nations – like for instance Switzerland – will be missing their best representatives in the sport. As usual, there will be a series of “Country vs. Country” matches with four games to be eventually rounded out by a golden set in case of a tie in wins.
The local organizers have prepared many special activities in combination with the event and the spectators will enjoy the opportunity to participate in a special draw whereby they may win a trip to the Canary Islands.
“We are all looking forward to the start of this tournament. Every athlete dreams about the Olympics and we have the advantage of playing in front of our fans as we try to fulfill this dream” says Russian star Evgenia Ukolova. “I am sure that the support of our fans will help us win the competition and finally pocket our ticket to London”.
The grid for the 1/4 finals coming up on Friday in Moscow reads as follows:
NED vs. GBR
ESP vs. ITA
SUI vs. GRE
RUS vs. AUT
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