First European Cup ever for Arkas IZMIR in front of the home crowd

2008/2009 GM Capital Challenge Cup - Men

Izmir, Turkey, March 22, 2009. Arkas IZMIR seized at home the 2008/2009 Men’s GM Capital Challenge Cup after a tremendous battle in five sets against Poland’s JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel SA. That is the first international trophy ever for the Turkish club, quite a good sponsoring and support for the upcoming CEV Indesit European Championships that are set to be staged next September in that same city,

Results

Final match
Arkas IZMIR (TUR) vs. JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel SA (POL) 3:2 (18-25, 25-21, 18-25, 26-24, 15-12)

Classification match 3/4
E.A. PATRAS (GRE) vs. Tomis CONSTANTA (ROU) 0:3 (20-25, 13-25, 25-27)

Best Players Awards

Best scorer : Ashlei Nemer (BRA/Tomis CONSTANTA)
Best spiker : Gökhan Oner (TUR/Arkas IZMIR)
Best blocker: Radu Began (ROU/Tomis CONSTANTA)
Best server: Gökhan Oner (TUR/Arkas IZMIR)
Best receiver: Pawel Rusek (POL/JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel SA)
Best setter: Huseyin Koc (TUR/Arkas IZMIR)
Most Valuable Player (MVP): Paul Charles Duerden (CAN/Arkas IZMIR)

Click here for a picture gallery

The first set of the final match was very even, with the local guys ultimately failing to close it out successfully. In the second set there was a sort of head-to-head until the score was leveled at 16. Right after that, the Turks displayed a series of marvelous rallies to clinch the set at 25-21. In the third set, although Arkas performed very well, the Poles were more consistent and went for the provisional 2:1. With the unbelievable support of the local enthusiast audience, the Turks bounced back in the fourth set (26-24) postponing the final outcome of the match to the tie-break. There IZMIR performed greatly and with that 15-12 clinched their first European Cup ever.
Thanks to this Final Four the city of İzmir had the chance to experience the excitement of high class volleyball for the first time, while waiting for the European Championships. Bernard Arkas, President of the local club, commented: "First of all, I would like to thank the audience of İzmir for their support. We won this cup thanks to them and this is why we want to share this trophy along with the local people”.
The second competition day for the Final Four of the 2008/09 Men’s GM Capital Challenge Cup started with the bronze medal match Romanian team Tomis CONSTANTA defeated E.A. PATRAS of Greece in three straight sets. In the first set the score stayed basically even up to the end, but finally the Romanians prevailed with the precious contribution of Brazilian spiker Ashlei Nemer. In the second set CONSTANTA rolled over the opponents and scored an easy 25-13 for the provisional 2:0. In the third set PATRAS was back into the game, but after a fierce battle Tomis finished their job at 27-25 and clinched the bronze medal, quite a precious accomplishment for the Romanian volleyball family. Their coach commented right after the game: “The match that we played yesterday with JASTRZEBSKI was very tough. But we know our strengths and performed at our best today”.