RUSSIA, POLAND, AZERBAIJAN AND GERMANY FIGHT FOR TOP THREE SPOTS

FIVB World Grand Prix 2006 - European Qualification

Guba, Azerbaijan, July 28, 2005. Azerbaijan, Germany, Poland and Russia have qualified for the Final Four from the total eight teams participating at the European Qualification Tournament in the Guba Olympic Sports Complex in Azerbaijan, 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. The drawing of lots for the semifinal round will take place tonight still. Friday is a rest day before the Final Four will take place on Saturday and Sunday.



Germany qualified from Preliminary Pool 2 booking a straight set victory over Bulgaria following home team and pool leader Azerbaijan into the Final Four. Winning the first set fairly easily (25-15) the Germans managed to come back from 16-18 in the second set, finally taking a 2:0 lead (25-22). Maintaining a five-point lead in the third set (16-11, 20-15) the team coached by Hee Wan Lee performed more aggressively with German youngster Dominice Steffen scoring several times from the left as well as captain Angelina Gruen leading her team to victory. At 23-18, two successful blocks by Christiane Fuerst and Margarethe Kozuch decided the match in German favour. The latter named 18-year old scored most points during the match (16 points), whilst Elena Koleva secured 15 points for Bulgaria, finally finishing fourth in Pool 2 behind Turkey.

Home favourite Azerbaijan started well into their final pool match against Turkey, which was of no major importance given that Azerbaijan had already qualified following their first two matches and Turkey on the other hand stood no more chances of joining the Final Four, winning the first set 25-22. Preferring to exit the pool rounds with dignity though the Turks snatched the subsequent two sets (25-23, 25-22) before Azerbaijan kept the better nerves at the end of the fourth set, which ended 30-28 in home favour. Turkey started stronger into the tiebreak set (6-3, 7-4) but the team coached by Faig Garayev fought back with Nataliya Mammadova (best scorer of the match with 30 points) coming on strong. At 8-8 Turkey’s best scorer Neslihan Demir (total 28 points) scored twice (10-8), whilst the attacks from the opposition landed out. Two successful blocks by Turkish captain Ozlem Ozcelik and Natalia Hanikoglu brought the final tiebreak victory to Turkey (15-9).

In Preliminary Pool 1 Russia overthrew the Romanians, who stood no more chance of qualifying following their first two straight set defeats, 3:0. Although the first set was very tight finally ending in Russian favour (27-25), the subsequent two sets were dominated by the 17-time European Champion Russia (25-17, 25-18). At 17-11 in the third set the team coached by Gianni Caprara maintained a safe six-point lead thanks to successful attacks by captain Natalia Safronova as well as Ekaterina Gamova and also profiting from unnecessary mistakes by their Romanian opposition. At 24-17 Ekaterina Gamova (best scorer of the match with 21 points) struck once again, advancing her team one step further to the Final Four. However, the Russians still had to wait for the Dutch team to play Poland before being able to celebrate.

In order to stay in the competition the Netherlands coached by Avital Selinger had to beat the Polish at least 3:1. Losing the first set 20-25 the pressure was on the orange formation, but they kept their cool and managed to decide the next two sets in their favour (25-19, 25-20), so that the fourth set instead of the fifth set was already the decider for the fourth place finishers of the 2003 Senior European Championships. The 2003 European Champion Poland was also not yet definitely qualified having to keep their nerves. The scoreboard showed 21-21 in the fourth set, the last time that the teams drew level. Whilst the Dutch remained at 21 points, the Poles won the following four points with a final kill block by Izabela Belcik and Maria Liktoras (25-21), levelling the sets to 2:2 which meant the “out” for the Netherlands. The tiebreak was captured 15-10 by the Dutch team. Best scorer in the match was Dutch number four Chaine Staelens with 21 points followed by Katarzyna Skowronska (19 points).

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 the match results, 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.

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

Preliminary Pool 1

RUS - ROM	3:0	27-25, 25-17, 25-18
NED - POL	3:2	20-25, 25-19, 25-20, 21-25, 15-10

Pool 1 Ranking

1. Russia	5	8:4
2. Poland	5	8:5
3. Netherlands	5	7:4
4. Romania	3	0:9

Russia and Poland have qualified for the Final Four.

Preliminary Pool 2

GER - BUL	3:0	25-15, 25-22, 25-18
TUR - AZE	3:2	22-25, 25-23, 25-22, 28-30, 15-9

 

Pool 2 Ranking

1. Azerbaijan	5	8:5
2. Germany	5	7:5
3. Turkey	4	6:8
4. Bulgaria	4	4:7

Azerbaijan and Germany have qualified for the Final Four.

Further Match Schedule (local time CET +3)
Final Four

Saturday, 30 July 2005	18.00	RUS - POL
	20.30	AZE - GER
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.