Translated material
Minimum pressure
Any medals are expected from the Russian women's team at Euro 2009
The European Women's Volleyball Championship starts today in four cities in Poland. Many matches will be held in the same arenas that recently hosted matches of the continental men's basketball championship. The Russian national team, led by head coach Vladimir Kuzyutkin, will hold the first stage meetings in Bydgoszcz. Here, by the way, our “Gullivers” won all three matches of the second stage at the second stage of Euro 2009.Our volleyball players left the training base in Novogorsk on September 20, when they went to test matches in Germany. In Dresden, the Russians were defeated by the Germans (1:3), and in the city of Riesa they took revenge (3:2), however, one should not attach special importance to the results of these sparrings, since the mentors varied the lineups, playing different options. “I was struck by the great interest shown by German amateurs in generally ordinary fights. In Dresden, three thousand spectators were present at the match, in Riesen - one and a half thousand, but the stands there simply could not accommodate a larger number of people, Vladislav Fadeev, who oversees all women's national teams of the country, told a Vremya Novostey correspondent. “The day after the second match, our team and the German girls almost simultaneously started on buses to Poland, covering more than 500 km.”
The Russians will perform at the continental championship in the following composition: setters - Maria Zhadan, Marina Sheshenina; blockers - Maria Borisenko, Elena Murtazaeva, Yulia Sedova, Yulia Merkulova; forwards - Anna Makarova, Natalya Safronova, Ksenia Naumova, Tatyana Kosheleva, Olga Fateeva, Ekaterina Gamova; libero - Ekaterina Kabeshova and Ekaterina Starodubova. Of the 14 volleyball players, no more than a dozen can be included in the application for each specific match. Compared to the lineup that, sensationally for a noticeably renewed team, achieved “silver” in the final World Grand Prix tournament at the end of August, there is only one change - instead of third setter Evgenia Startseva, tall blocker Yulia Merkulova will play. In the summer, she was recovering from surgery for an old shoulder injury, joining the team at the training camp in Anapa after the Grand Prix.
“The task for the tournament, set to us by the leadership of the VFW for the tournament, was announced even before the start of the Grand Prix,” said Vladislav Fadeev. “We are expected to take a place on the podium at the European Championship.” Let us remind you that after the end of the contract with the Italian Giovanni Caprara, who led our national team to the title of world champions in 2006, but did not produce results at the Beijing Olympics (elimination in the quarterfinals), an open competition was held to fill the vacant position of team coach. The competition was won by Vladimir Kuzyutkin. The appointment of an experienced specialist, who had previously successfully worked with both men's and women's teams, was received ambiguously at the time, but in the summer Kuzyutkin proved that our team can take prizes at major international competitions without the involvement of foreign mentors. The team's bright and confident performance at the Grand Prix was a real revelation.
Unlike the men's team, the Russians, as the current world champions, were exempted from selection for the next World Cup in Japan. If at the European Championships in Turkey only “gold” was expected, then the girls were free from such pressure. When it became known that the leaders of the “golden” team of 2006, Lyubov Sokolova and Elena Godina, would not play for the national team this season, and Ekaterina Gamova wanted to follow their example (then she changed her mind), the team’s prospects seemed very vague. The pessimistic mood was also added to by the extremely unsuccessful performance on the European stage of the youth and junior national teams, which did not qualify for the world championships in their age categories. However, Kuzyutkin was able to achieve maximum dedication from the players at his disposal, established team play, and Russia is going to Euro 2009 as one of the favorites.
The main contenders for medals also include defending champion Italy, silver medalist of the 2007 tournament Serbia, the hosts of the competition. The Germans are capable of any surprises; we cannot discount Holland, which has shown stable results over the past few years.
The Russians' opponents at the first stage in Group C will be Bulgaria (September 25), Belarus (26th) and Belgium (27th). Saturday's match against Belarus should be unique to some extent, because the team from our neighboring state was recently accepted by Nikolai Karpol, who worked with the national teams of the USSR and Russia for many years. Composition of other groups: “A” (Lodz) - Holland, Croatia, Spain, Germany; “B” (Wroclaw) - Italy, Germany, France, Türkiye; "D" (Katowice) - Serbia, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Azerbaijan. The three best teams from each quartet at the second stage will form new sixes (A + C, B + D), then the fight will begin for a place in the semi-finals.