RUSSIA AND AZERBAIJAN QUALIFY FOR 2006 FIVB WORLD GRAND PRIX

FIVB World Grand Prix 2006 - European Qualification

Guba, Azerbaijan, July 30, 2005. Russia and Azerbaijan will compete in the final of the European Qualification Tournament in the Guba Olympic Sports Complex in Azerbaijan, where the first three ranked teams will qualify through to the FIVB World Grand Prix 2006 Final Round. Thus, the more important encounter on Sunday will be the battle for third place between Poland and Germany. Whilst Russia took revenge for the preliminary pool round defeat against Poland beating them 3:2 in the semifinal match, home team Azerbaijan profited from the 3’000 crowd support in their semifinal against Germany, claiming a 3:0 victory. Italy, Vice Champion of the 2005 FIVB World Grand Prix, is already qualified as one of the organisers of the 2006 FIVB World Grand Prix Final Round.



In the first semifinal 2003 European Champion Poland met 2004 Olympic silver medallist Russia. Already having faced each other in the preliminary pool rounds, where Poland booked a tiebreak victory (15-10), the two European volleyball superpowers didn’t give one another a run for their money with the match being decided in the fifth set once again. The girls coached by Andrzej Niemczyk took an early lead in the first set (17-12) which they never relinquished, finally taking a 1:0 set lead (25-19).
With both teams demonstrating clever attacking play the Poles were more successful at blocking during the second set which they deservedly won (25-20), leading 2:0.
The game continued level with Elena Godina, Ekaterina Gamova and captain Natalia Safronova scoring several times for the Russian side and Malgorzata Glinka leading the Polish formation (8-8, 14-14). At 16-16 however the Russians took a three-point lead thanks to unforced errors by their opposition (19-16, 22-19). Profiting from confusions at the end of the third set and a slight lack of concentration on Polish side, the Russians finally claimed the third set (25-20).
This time it was the Russians who captured an early lead (12-9) which they slowly increased to five points (19-14) before Polish Milena Rosner brought her team back into the game with two successful attacks (20-18). However, missing the following attacks Poland bestowed Russia with another five-point leeway (23-18). Although the Polish girls defended four set points at 24-19 scoring in block and attack (24-23), the Russians secured the final set point (25-23) so that another tiebreak had to decide.
A small three point lead by the Russians (8-5) quickly increased to six points (12-6). Whilst everything worked for the team coached by Italian Gianni Caprara with Elena Godina not missing one attack and Yulia Merkulova blocking as well as Marina Sheshenina serving successfully, the Polish performance went downhill. Only Maria Liktoras and Katarzyna Skowronska managed to score another two points for Poland (14-8) but finally had to admit defeat to a strong attacking and defending Russian formation.

Best scorer was Ekaterina Gamova with 26 points, whilst Malgorzata Glinka and Maria Liktoras both scored 17 points for Poland.

"We are very sad to have lost especially after leading 2:0", explained Polish team captain Aleksandra Przybysz, "The Russian block stood much better at the end of the match which helped them to victory." Andrzej Niemczyk, Poland’s head coach, blamed the weak defense for his team’s defeat.
Italian Gianni Caprara, who has taken over the challenging position as Russian head coach from Nikolai Karpol, commented that it’s difficult to try and alter the Russian playing system which has been successful for several years. "Our setter improved her passes from the third set onwards which was one of the keys to final victory", reasoned the successful coach who is assisted by former professional Irina Kirillova.

Opponents of the Russian team in Sunday’s final will be Azerbaijan. Although Germany took a short lead in the first set (18-21), the Azerbaijan team caught on mainly thanks to the perfectly placed spikes by Yelena Shabovta (22-22). The first set point for Azerbaijan (24-23) was successfully blocked by German team captain Angelina Grün who later on presented the locals with their third set point when serving into the net (26-25). At 27-26 Yelena Shabovta finally secured the first set for her team with a powerful attack (28-26). The second set merely lasted 21 minutes. Germany didn’t find into the game, being put under constant pressure by the strong attacks from their opponents. Natalya Mammadova secured the 2:0 set lead for the home team with one of her clean cut spikes (25-10).
Trailing Germany with a maximum of four points during the third set (0-4, 4-8) the local team coached by Faig Garayev levelled to 10-10 before Mammadova successfully completed two attacks and Shabovta served an ace (13-10). Grün kept the spirit of the German team high with aggressive smashes (14-13), ignoring the yellow card for German head coach Hee Wan Lee and some disputed referee calls (18-14). Nevertheless, at the end the home team proved superior in attack as well as in defense, maintaining a confident four-point lead up until the end (20-16, 23-19) before Natalya Mammadova (best scorer of the match with 25 points) finished the last semifinal of the day with an impressive smash (25-20).

“The first set was already very difficult”, stated German head coach Hee Wan Lee, “We have some very young players for which this kind of international competition is their first time experience which didn’t make things any easier.” “This match was the most important match for our girls this season”, commented Azerbaijan head coach Faig Garayev content, “Today’s victory proves that our first victory against Germany during the pool round wasn’t a surprise.”

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 results and pictures of the matches 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)
Semifinal Results

RUS - POL	3:2	19-25, 20-25, 25-20, 25-23, 15-8
AZE - GER	3:0	28-26, 25-10, 25-20

 

Further Match Schedule (local time CET +3)

Sunday, 31st July 2005	18.00	Classification 3-4	POL - GER
	20.30	Final	RUS - AZE

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.