Greece qualify for #EuroVolleyU18M Final Round with two wins from two
News
Greece secured their spot in the Final Round of this year’s #EuroVolleyU18M after completion of two competition days in Sigulda. On Friday, they beat Estonia 3-1 and some 24 hours later, they edged hosts Latvia 3-2 to claim top spot in the group and punch their ticket to Tbilisi, Georgia – where the Final Round will be taking place in mid-July.
Panagiotis Lakasas, head coach of Team Greece, was obviously very happy and pleased with his team:
“These young players tried so hard. We spent 1.5 year without any competition because of the coronavirus pandemic. In Greece, the authorities shut everything down. This is the second tournament we have played since Christmas and I believe my team deserved the qualification to the U18 European Championship. I think the big target for us is in 2024 when we will have the U20 European Championship in Greece.”
When asked about the preparation for the finals, the Greek coach emphasised that his players would have to focus on their school obligations first. “In the middle of June, we will then start to practice again but I know that in the meantime, they will continue to work individually. We want to improve the physical condition and of course we hope to achieve a good result in the Final Round.”
On the last day of the tournament, Latvia beat their neighbours from Estonia 3-1 to finish second in the pool.
Marcis Obrumanis“It is hard to compare this performance with yesterday’s game because Greece was a stronger opponent, but today we played with a little more discipline, that is for sure. We did draw the right conclusions after yesterday; the boys had less stress today as well. We were relatively motivated to win, even though we already knew that the Greeks had moved on to the Final Round.”
Head coach of Latvia