SURPRISE WIN BY CZECH REPUBLIC IN FIRST EUROPEAN LEAGUE

European League Final 2004

Opava, Czech Republic, July 11, 2004. The Czech Republic is the surprising winner of the first ever European League after nailing down the tournament favourite Russia in the final played here in Opava today. The Czech team, who didn’t have the opportunity to play any Olympic qualification tournament, defeated the favourites for Olympic gold by 3:1. The Netherlands claimed third position after a 3:1 victory over Germany.

The Czech Republic surprised more than 3,000 fans by winning against Russia in the final of the European League. Although Russia was the favourite for the title, the Czech players overpowered their opponents with great serves, huge blocks and effective attacks. This way of playing proved to be their key to success, especially in the first set when Russia appeared to be having problems, one being the absence of opposite attacker Stanislav Dineikine, who remained on the bench due to a shoulder injury. When Russia came back to win the second set, the match appeared to become open again. However, after winning the third set with just two points difference (26-24), the Czechs then started to believe in themselves and their imminent success. Fully concentrated and making hardly any mistakes in the fourth set, the Czechs went on to claim the European League trophy after an ace by Martin Lebl.
Czech lefthander Jakub Novotny was the best scorer with 17 points. On the Russian side, Sergey Tetyukhin also scored 17 points. Czechs Martin Lebl (15), Michal Rak (14) and Petr Platenik (11) also contributed to putting double figures onto the scoreboard.

It is a pity for the Czech team that they won’t be able to play at the Athens Olympic Games as they weren’t allowed to play any Olympic Qualification tournament because of not reaching the last eight during the 2003 European Championships. Now that they have defeated Russia who are, together with Brazil, the major favourite for the Olympic Gold in Europe’s most important competition this year, the team have proved that they belong to the best teams of the world.

Netherlands claimed the bronze medal after defeating Germany in an earlier match of the day. Despite having lost the first set 29-31, the Dutch squad came back and clinched the victory by winning the next three sets quite easily. The opposite attacker, Richard Schuil, was largely responsible for the Dutch victory, making 27 points. On the German side, Bjorn Andrae was the best scorer with 14 points.

Schuil was crowned as best scorer of the event, while Lebl was awarded as best attacker. Dutch Mike van de Goor received the award for best blocker.

European League 2004

Final:

CZE - RUS

3:1

25:20, 21:25, 26:24, 25:19

Match for 3rd place:

NED - GER

3:1

29:31, 25:18, 25:19, 25:23

Semi-final results:

CZE - NED	3:0	25:23, 25:21, 25:19
RUS - GER	3:0	25:22, 25:13, 25:14

Individual awards:
Best scorer: Richard Schuil (NED)
Best spiker: Martin Lebl (CZE)
Best blocker: Mike van de Goor (NED)

More on the web at www.cev.lu

Enjoy & Be There:
10-11 July 2004: Final Four European League,Opava, Czech Republic.
22-25 July 2004: Under 20 European BeachVolleyball Championships, Koper, Slovenia.
29 July - 1 August 2004: Under 23 European BeachVolleyball Championships, Brno , Czech Republic.
5-8 August 2004: Under 18 European Beach Volleyball Championships, Myslowice, Poland.
2 September 2004 : Drawing of lots 2004-2005 Indesit European Champions’ League, Vienna, Austria.
3-11 September 2004: Women’s Under 19 European Championships, Bardejov, Presov, Slovakia.
4-12 September 2004: Men’s Under 20 European Championships, Zagreb, Croatia.