AZERBAIJAN AND POLAND UNDEFEATED LEADER OF POOLS

FIVB World Grand Prix 2006 - European Qualification

Guba, Azerbaijan, July 27, 2005. Hosting team Azerbaijan and Poland remain the only two undefeated teams in the European Qualification Tournament in the Guba Olympic Sports Complex in Azerbaijan, where eight teams are fighting for the three spots in the FIVB World Grand Prix 2006 Final Round deciding on who will join Italy who is already qualified as one of the organisers of the 2006 FIVB World Grand Prix Final Round. Whilst Russia beat the Netherlands and Poland beat Romania in Preliminary Pool 1, Azerbaijan and Bulgaria were successful over Germany respectively Turkey in Preliminary Pool 2. The final pool matches will be played Thursday before the drawing of lots for the semifinal round will take place the same evening. The Final Four teams will then have the opportunity to rest on Friday before the Final Four will take place on Saturday and Sunday.  

In Preliminary Pool 2 Turkey suffered their second defeat in a row. Losing the tiebreak against Germany yesterday, the Turks were beaten 3:1 by Bulgaria who will now meet the Germans in their final preliminary pool round. Taking the first set (25-23) and a considerable lead in the second set the Bulgarians let the Turks come close in the second, but finally managed to seize their fifth set ball (29-27). Although Turkey captured the third set (21-25) and stayed close behind Bulgaria during the fourth set (15-13, 20-19, 22-21), they weren’t able to draw balance. Thanks to some powerful strikes by Radosveta Teneva (23-21, 24-22) the Bulgarians attained their first two match points. Although Turk Aysun Ozbek successfully defended the first match ball, the latter named went on serving a net fault at the following point (25-23). Best scorers were Turkish Neslihan Demir (26 points) and for Bulgaria Eva Yaneva with 21 points.
“This match has been a success in psychological terms”, explained Bulgarian head coach Miroslav Zhivkov, “we have a young team with no real stars but therefore all the more team cohesion.”

Russia booked their first important victory facing the Netherlands in their second match of Preliminary Pool 1. Following their tiebreak defeat against Poland in the first preliminary pool round the players of head coach Giovanni Caprara, who is assisted by former professional Irina Kirillova, were close to playing another tiebreak when the Dutch led 18-15 in the fourth set with a 2:1 set score in favour of Russia. However, following two successful blocks by Yulia Merkulova the Russians drew even (19-19) and gained a two-point lead (22-20, 23-21). Chaine Staelens booked one more point for the Netherlands (23-22) before 2004 European Best Volleyball Player Ekaterina Gamova completed the 3:1 success for Russia (25-22). The 2.02m tall Russian booked a total of 26 points for her team, whilst Manon Flier scored most points for the Dutch.

Azerbaijan also won their second match after yesterday’s 3:1 victory over Bulgaria. Although the home team lost the first set against Germany by a tight 25-27, they won both the subsequent sets 25-21 and dominated the third until match victory (25-17). Natalya Mammadova was unstoppable, scoring 32 points in total, whilst on German side 17 year old newcomer Dominice Steffen booked most points for her team (17 points).

“We’re extremely happy as we managed to take successful revenge for the defeat against Germany in last year’s European Qualification Tournament in Baku”, stated Azerbaijan head coach Faig Garayev, “Our team believed in victory all the time and are confident in being able to beat any team the way they played today.”

The final match of the day saw Poland secure their second victory after they beat Russia yesterday. Facing Romania, who were defeated by the Netherlands in the previous round, the 2003 European Champion experienced little resistance, not conceding one set (25-20, 25-16, 25-18).

The European Qualification Tournament for the 2006 FIVB World Grand Prix is transmitted by ‘Eurosport International’ and the recently launched ‘Eurosport 2’ channel. Please find the detailed TV schedule, as well as match statistics, match pictures, etc. on the CEV website at www.cev.lu/VOLLEYBALL/Grand Prix. Further information on the 2006 FIVB World Grand Prix can be found at www.fivb.org.

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FIVB World Grand Prix 2006 – European Qualification Tournament in Guba (AZE)
Match Results

Preliminary Pool 1

RUS - NED	3:1	29-27, 22-25, 25-19, 25-22
POL - ROM	3:0	25-20, 25-16, 25-18

 
Pool 1 Ranking

1. Poland	4	6:2
2. Netherlands	3	4:3
3. Russia	3	5:4
4. Romania	2	0:6

Preliminary Pool 2

BUL - TUR	3:1	25-23, 29-27, 21-25, 25-23
AZE - GER	3:1	25-27, 25-21, 25-21, 25-17

 

Pool 2 Ranking

1. Azerbaijan	4	6:2
2. Bulgaria	3	4:4
3. Germany	3	4:5
4. Turkey	2	3:6

 

Further Match Schedule (local time CET +3)
Preliminary Pool 1: Poland, Netherlands, Russia, Romania

 

Thursday, 28 July 2005	16.00	RUS - ROM
	20.30	POL - NED

Preliminary Pool 2: Turkey, Germany, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan

Thursday, 28 July 2005	14.00	GER - BUL
	18.30	TUR - AZE

Final Four

Saturday, 30 July 2005	18.00	Semifinal 1
	20.30	Semifinal 2
Sunday, 31 July 2005	18.00	Classification match 3-4
	20.30	Final

More on the web at www.cev.lu

Enjoy & Be There:

26-31 July 2005: FIVB Grand Prix Qualification, Guba, Azerbaijan.
28-31 July 2005: Under 20 European Beach Volleyball Championships 2005, Tel Aviv, Israel.
04-07 August 2005: Under 23 European Beach Volleyball Championships 2005, Myslowice, Poland.
06-09 August 2005: Nestea European Championship Tour - Swiss Open, Lucerne, Switzerland.
11-14 August 2005: Under 18 European Beach Volleyball Championships, Illichivsk, Ukraine.
25-28 August 2005: Nestea European Championship Tour Final, Moscow, Russia.
02-11 September 2005: Men’s Senior European Championships 2005, Rome (ITA) and Belgrade (SCG).
16-25 September 2005: Women’s Senior European Championships 2005, Pula and Zagreb, Croatia.