Poland secure #EuroVolleyU18M participation via EEVZA qualifier
News
Poland are the first team to qualify for next year’s #EuroVolleyU18M after claiming first place at the EEVZA zonal qualifier held at the state-of-the-art Gazprom Armenia Educational Sports Complex in Yerevan, Armenia. The second to sixth-placed teams will all continue their journey in the second round of qualifiers scheduled for the spring of 2022.
Poland needed to take only two sets from their final match with Russia to cement their first place in the single round-robin tournament. They achieved this feat by taking the first and second sets (25-22, 25-14) and after achieving that goal, they relaxed a bit, eventually allowing Russia to celebrate a 3-2 victory. Despite the result of this match, Russia had to be content with second place, with Poland punching the only direct ticket to next year’s #EuroVolleyU18M in Georgia.
Russia and Poland were the event pre-favourites after taking silver and bronze, respectively, at this year’s #EuroVolleyU17M in Albania – but Russia paid a high price for their 2-3 loss at the hands of Ukraine earlier in the competition.
Ukraine finished the competition in third place following their 3-1 victory (25-19, 25-15, 23-25, 25-20) over Belarus. Earlier on Sunday, hosts Armenia lost their last game of the tournament to Estonia 0-3 (14-25, 14-25, 19-25).
The medal ceremony that capped the event featured a number of high-ranking authorities, such as Mr Karen Giloyan, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport of the Republic of Armenia, Mr Hrachya Muradyan, President of the Volleyball Federation of Armenia, Alexander Grigoryan, Director of the Gazprom Armenia Educational Sports Complex. Mr Ashot Gasparyan, President of Esco Pharm, and Artur Sedrakyan, Head of the Department of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia, attended the ceremony as well.
The honorary guests of the championship awarded the top three teams, the best players, the best referees, with special souvenirs presented to the honorary guests of the championship, the Technical Delegate of the championship and the Supervisor.
