Translated material
Alpine tenacity
Belgorod barely defeated Tirol and reached the Champions League playoffs
Belgorod “Lokomotiv-Belogorye” only qualified for the playoffs in the last round of the group stage of the Champions League. Yesterday, Gennady Shipulin's team beat the Austrian club Hipo Tirol (Innsbruck) on their site - 3:2 (25:12, 21:25, 22:25, 25:13, 19:17).The Railwaymen could have earned a pass to the next Round of Twelve much earlier if two wins at the start of the tournament, at the behest of officials of the European Volleyball Confederation (EVC), had not resulted in technical defeats for the Belgorod team. The allegedly incorrect application for Dmitry Musersky, who played for the Ukrainian youth team, and the subsequent sanctions forced numerous Loko fans to be in suspense until the end of the two-round tournament. Let us note that one of the victories that was taken away from Shipulin’s team was won over yesterday’s opponent. In Innsbruck, Lokomotiv also won in five games.
However, despite all the injustice of the penalties imposed on the holder of the title of the strongest club on the continent in 2003 and 2004, few doubted that the Belgorod team would make it to the playoffs. Despite any personnel upheavals, this team is famous for its character and ability to overcome the most problematic situations with honor. Last week, our club defeated the French Tour at home in a tense match, and yesterday the victory was also achieved with great difficulty.
The 2006 World Cup participant, Canadian Pascal Cardinal, Finnish national volleyball player Mika Heikinen, an Argentinean, a Puerto Rican, a Brazilian and a Slovak are playing for Tirol. In general, the team is international and is considered a fairly strong middle team, capable of any surprises. Austria has two places in the Champions League, although not entirely on sporting merit. The EKB's main commercial partners include the Austrian airline, hence the benefits.
The Tyroleans are exempt from participating in the regular championship of their country and begin the fight for medals directly from the playoffs, as they compete in the Central European League championship along with teams from Slovenia, Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia. Participation in this tournament for the second season in a row in parallel with the Champions League has strengthened the volleyball players from Innsbruck. The matches against Tyrol were not an easy walk for any of the teams in Group A. At least in one game, but yesterday’s guests from Belgorod were sure to resist. Last Wednesday was no exception. Outwardly winning the opening set easily, in the second the hosts were faced with Hipo’s great desire to avoid early capitulation. Italian coach Pietro Scarduzio demanded maximum dedication from his players.
And the third set began with a breakthrough from the guests - 8:3. After the technical break, the situation worsened, and Loko's gap reached eight points. Then the Belgorod team finally found their game, reduced the gap to two goals (22:24), but it was too late - Tyrol converted a set point thanks to a receiving error. A portion of suggestions from Shipulin and his assistant Vyacheslav Zaitsev had an effect on the players during the short break. The fourth game was won with the same great advantage as the first. Experts and individual advanced fans knew that from that moment on, Belgorod was already guaranteed a place in the playoffs in any case. Volleyball players were unlikely to make complex set ratio calculations before the match. The battle for victory in this fight continued. In the tiebreaker, the hosts were in the lead 13:9, the Tyroleans did not give up and equalized the score. In a game of balance, success still came to those who wanted it more.
The draw for the Champions League playoffs will take place today in Luxembourg. The three best teams from each group plus the participant who took fourth place with the best performance continue to fight for the trophy. Of these 13 clubs, the host of the Final Four will be identified first, the rest will be made up of six competing pairs.