UPSETS MARK RESTART OF WORLD’S BEST CLUB COMPETITION

Men's Indesit European Champions' League 2004/05

Gennady Shipulin, head coach Lokomotiv BELGOROD

Luxembourg, January 6, 2005. The eighth leg of the Men’s Indesit European Champions’ League, the first action in the world’s strongest club competition in 2005, marked many incredible upsets. With only two legs to go in the preliminary league round of this high level competition Greek Iraklis THESSALONIKI and Russian Dinamo MOSCOW both lost their first match whilst other interesting results opened up most of the pools.

Defending champion Lokomotiv BELGOROD from Russia had to defeat Iraklis THESSALONIKI in order to have a good chance of reaching the next round. It was a tough job for the Russian Rockets as the Greek formation had won all of its first five matches, including a home victory over the Russian champion. Lokomotiv BELGOROD cruised to the 3:1 victory supported by more than 5,000 volleyball fans in the Cosmos Arena in the Russian city. Alexander Kosarev became the best scorer with 19 points, closely followed by his Argentine teammate Alejandro Spajic, who added 14 points to the scoreboard in this exciting Pool A clash. By losing against the two times Indesit European Champions’ League Champion, Iraklis THESSALONIKI spoilt their first chance to secure a spot in the play-off round, but has another opportunity next week. A victory over Belgian Noliko MAASEIK will be enough to reach the next stage of the world’s strongest club competition. “It was a tough battle and we really had to win”, Lokomotiv BELGOROD coach Gennady Shipulin stated. “My team have lost matches because some of my top players were not able to play. Now that they are all in a good shape, we can beat all top teams.”
Another former Indesit European Champions’ League champion booked a great result in Pool D. French PARIS Volley defeated Dinamo MOSCOW at home, being the first team to win against the strong Russian team. With this 3:1 victory in their pocket PARIS Volley is now sure of playing in the next round, whilst Dinamo MOSCOW had already claimed a play-off spot after the seventh leg. Czech Jiri Novak was by far the best player on the court, the PARIS Volley spiker making 26 points. “We had to play perfectly and avoid mistakes to have a chance of winning against Dinamo MOSCOW”, PARIS Volley coach Eric Ngapeth said. “This was fortunately the case in this great match.”
One other noteworthy result during the eighth leg of the Indesit European Champions’ League was the 3:1 victory of German Champion SCC BERLIN over the strong Spanish squad of Unicaja ALMERIA in Pool C. With this victory the best German team still have good chances of reaching the next round. In another Pool C battle, Italian Sisley TREVISO secured a play-off place by winning against Austrian Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK.
In Pool B, the 3:1 victory of Greek Panathinaikos ATHENS (GRE) over Vojvodina Novolin NOVI SAD from Serbia & Montenegro was enough for the Greek team to reach the next stage of the Indesit European Champions’ League.
Six teams are now sure of playing in the twelve teams’ play-off round with still two legs to go i.e. Austrian Aon hotVolleys VIENNA, Panathinaikos ATHENS, Sisley TREVISO, French TOURS VB, Dinamo MOSCOW and PARIS Volley. Further teams can qualify next week when the ninth leg is due to start on Tuesday. The best three teams of each group proceed to the next round.

Men’s Indesit European Champions’ League 2004/2005
Results eighth week

Preliminary Pool A

Lokomotiv BELGOROD (RUS) - Iraklis THESSALONIKI (GRE)	3 :1	21-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-18
Noliko MAASEIK (BEL) - VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN (GER)	3 :1	25-17, 17-25, 25-21, 25-20

Preliminary Pool B

Panathinaikos ATHENS (GRE) - Vojvodina Novolin NOVI SAD (SCG)	3 :1	25-22, 27-25, 15-25, 28-26
JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel S.S.A. (POL) - Levski Siconco SOFIA (BUL)	3 :0	25-22, 25-16, 25-19

Preliminary Pool C

SCC BERLIN (GER) - Unicaja ALMERIA (ESP)	3 :1	25-21, 24-26, 25-20, 30-28
Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK (AUT) - Sisley TREVISO (ITA)	1 :3	17-25, 21-25, 28-26, 23-25

Preliminary Pool D

Copra Volley PIACENZA (ITA) - Lokomotiv KHARKIV (UKR)	3 :0	25-20, 25-22, 25-20
PARIS Volley (FRA) - Dinamo MOSCOW (RUS)	3 :1	25-22, 22-25, 25-23, 27-25

Pool Ranking after 8th week

Pool A:
1. Iraklis THESSALONIKI 6-11 (16-6), 2. Lokomotiv BELGOROD 7-11 (16-12), 3. VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN 7-11 (13-12),
4. Noliko MAASEIK 6-9 (11-12), 5. Polska Energia SOSNOWIEC 6-6 (4-18)

Pool B:
1. Panathinaikos ATHENS 7-12 (18-11), 2. Aon hotVolleys VIENNA 6-11 (15-11), 3. JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel S.S.A. 6-9 (11-10),
4. Levski Siconco SOFIA 7-9 (9-17), 5. Vojvodina Novolin NOVI SAD 6-7 (11-15)

Pool C:
1. Sisley TREVISO 7-12 (17-9), 2. TOURS VB 6-11 (16-6), 3. SCC BERLIN 7-11 (14-16),
4. Unicaja ALMERIA 6-8 (9-12), 5. Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK 6-6 (5-18)

Pool D:
1. Dinamo MOSCOW 7-13 (19-6), 2. PARIS Volley (FRA) 6-11 (15-8), 3. Copra Volley PIACENZA 7-9 (12-15),
4. Knack ROESELARE 6-8 (10-15), 5. Lokomotiv KHARKIV 6-7 (4-16)

Interested spectators at the Pool D encounter between PARIS Volley and Dinamo MOSCOW

Match schedule (all times are local)
Men’s Indesit European Champions’ League

Tuesday 11 January 2005

Pool C	20.30	TOURS VB (FRA) - SCC BERLIN (GER)
Pool D	17.00	Lokomotiv KHARKIV (UKR) - PARIS Volley (FRA)

Wednesday 12 January 2005

Pool A	20.30	Iraklis THESSALONIKI (GRE) - Noliko MAASEIK (BEL)
Pool B	20.00	Vojvodina Novolin NOVI SAD (SCG) - JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel S.S.A. (POL)
	20.15	Aon hotVolleys VIENNA (AUT) - Panathinaikos ATHENS (GRE)
Pool D	20.30	Knack ROESELARE (BEL) - Copra Volley PIACENZA (ITA)

Thursday 13 January 2005

Pool A	18.00	Polska Energia SOSNOWIEC (POL) - Lokomotiv BELGOROD (RUS)
Pool C	20.30	Unicaja ALMERIA (ESP) - Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK (AUT)

Confédération Européenne de Volleyball