volleyball

The preliminary stage of the Volleyball World League ended on Sunday. If its results were taken into account in the final tournament, which will begin in Madrid on July 8, then the Russian team could already receive the main prize.
During the entire preliminary stage, the Russian team lost only two matches. Both - one away, one at home - to the Poles, who are now rated very highly in European volleyball. Both after securing a place in the final tournament. Both, playing by no means the strongest squad: coaches Gennady Shipulin and Boris Kolchins took the chance to test the reservists.
The Russian composition is perhaps the main mystery for all foreign observers. Roman Yakovlev and Sergei Tetyukhin were injured - irreplaceable, as it seemed last year, in which there was a victory in the same World League, and “silver” in the World Championship, and first place in the national team rankings. But in place of Yakovlev, the best diagonal strongest club championship - Italian, 22-year-old Sergei Baranov plays even stronger. And Tetyukhin’s role as a follow-up player is handled quite competently by the Belgorod resident’s peer Semyon Poltavsky, who is also, in general, a new face in the team. And in addition, with 32 aces, he became the first in the World League in serving. Foreigners ask: when will Gennady Shipulin try out another superstar of the Italian Serie A - Alexander Gerasimov? He tries it in the Moscow matches with the Poles, but, it seems, only to strengthen his own opinion: the main diagonal is young Baranov.
Both Sergei Tetyukhin (he already appeared on the court in the games with Poland) and Roman Yakovlev can recover by the Madrid final. “And how will you solve the problem of competition - after all, those who replaced them look great?” To this question, national team coach Gennady Shipulin answers with a smile: “God grant that this problem always exists!”
He is generally happy with everything and everyone. In the statistical results of the preliminary stage, Pavel Abramov is first in attack efficiency, Alexey Kuleshov is second in blocking, Vadim Khamtutskikh is third among setters... Well, maybe, with the exception of the technique: “Our main problem, we need to fix it before Madrid.” But the other favorites have much more troubles!
The Dutch do not qualify for the final tournament. Cuba, whose entire “base” fled to Italy last year, suffered the same fate. The French, bronze medalists at the World Championships, lose the first two places in the group to the Czech Republic and Greece. The Olympic champions Yugoslavia barely beat the sensation of the preliminary stage, Bulgaria, by difference of sets in the fight for championship in their group. Nothing surprising: compared to the Sydney Olympics, nothing has changed for Serbia and Montenegro. The leaders are still the same, including the brothers Vladimir and Nikola Grbichi, who are already well over 30 and who, if they had been replaced, would have left the team long ago. There is no replacement.
The Italians, the most titled team of the 90s, have no replacement either. Her crisis is the crisis of the stars. Samuele Papi, Luigi Mastrangelo, Andre Giani - these veterans began to lose a little over the years. There are no talents to take their place. And in Italy, two consecutive defeats from the Germans in the final round are taken calmly. For this team, second place in the group behind the Brazilians is still more logical than first place, ahead of the world champions.
Brazil is perhaps our only rival. This is exactly what happened last year. But Brazil also has the same hidden drawback as the Italians - an abundance of irreplaceable ones: Giba, Andre, Mauricio, Nalbert... Today they are good. But no one knows what will happen in a year. And Gennady Shipulin, entrusting a place in the lineup to Sergei Baranov, Semyon Poltavsky, Arkady Kozlov, Taras Khtey, is not thinking about Madrid and not even about the autumn European Championships and the World Cup, but about the Olympics in Athens. Although this young team, which is essentially testing its capabilities, should win the final of the World League.
ALEXEY J-DOSPEKHOV

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 112 dated 07/01/2003, p. 15

Authors:

Alexey Dospehov

The Russian team reached the final young