FIVE MEN AND TWO WOMEN’S EUROPEAN TEAMS EAGER TO QUALIFY FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Final Olympic Qualification Tournaments

Luxembourg, 30^th April 2004. During the month of May, the last four qualifying tournaments will be held in Japan, Portugal, and Spain in order to share out the remaining tickets to the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, starting mid-August. In the men, Poland and Portugal will battle it out in Porto (POR), and Spain and the Netherlands will meet in Madrid (ESP). France will try to take its chance in Tokyo, Japan, where the Italian and Russian ladies’ teams will have competed for the Olympic Games qualification a week before.

Apart from the European teams which have already qualified for the Olympic Games i.e. Greece, Italy, Russia and Serbia & Montenegro for the men, and Germany and Greece for the women, another seven European teams have the possibility to qualify, then flying over to the capital city of Greece, the birth place of the Olympic Games. Facing the national squads of Korea, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Nigeria, Puerto Rico and Thailand, the two European women’s teams of Italy and Russia will step onto court first in Japan from the 8^th until the 16^th May. Out of these eight contenders the best three teams, together with the best Asian team, will get through to the Olympic Games, which will be determined by a Single Round Robin with 28 matches in total (seven matches per team).

The French men’s national team will be the only European representative in Tokyo, fighting for only two Olympic spots in a Single Round Robin competition format. However, one of the places is reserved for the best Asian team, therefore “les Bleus”, who are coached by Philippe BLAIN, will have to finish this tournament with the best possible ranking in order to show up in Athens.

On the same weekend of the qualification tournament in Tokyo (21^st – 23^rdMay), another ticket will be up for grabs in Porto (POR), giving the possibility for its home squad and Poland to qualify for the prestigious Games. A total of six matches in a Single Round Robin will be sufficient to reveal the final winner between Poland, Portugal, Kazakhstan, and Venezuela.

The last Olympic spot to be given away will be decided at the Rockdromo in Madrid (ESP) the following weekend. Spain and the Netherlands will face their non-European counterparts Cameroon and Cuba, playing three encounters each in order to decide the final qualifier in the men’s volleyball for the Olympic Games.