Translated material
Championship without a champion
The continental qualification for Beijing is reminiscent of Euro 2007
The draw for the final European Olympic qualification tournament took place yesterday in the German city of Halle, where one ticket to Beijing will be played out. Led by Italian specialist Giovanni Caprara, the Russian women's team, the current world champion, is in the same company with teams from Eastern European countries - Croatia, Romania and Serbia. The second quartet consisted of the German hosts of the tournament (it will be held in Halle), the winner of the 2007 Grand Prix, Holland, Türkiye and Poland.The rules of the tournament, which will take place from January 15 to 20 next year, are as follows: first, the participants in fours play among themselves in a round robin system, then the semi-finals and final will take place. The winner of the decisive match will compete at the 2008 Summer Games. Only three teams, in case of failure, have the right to realize another chance to qualify for the Olympics at the combined world and Asian selection in May next year in Tokyo. Two places for Europe there will go to the teams with the highest positions in the current ranking of the International Volleyball Federation. Russia in this ranking list is now the best of the representatives of the Old World (fifth place), followed by Serbia (seventh line). As for ninth-placed Poland, if the 2003 and 2005 European champions fail to win in Halle, the Red and Whites will only be able to travel to Tokyo if Russia or Serbia succeed, automatically opening up one continental vacancy.
We asked the Secretary General of the All-Russian Volleyball Federation, Vladimir Patkin, who oversees the country’s women’s national teams, to comment on the results of the draw in Halle. “I regard the draw as absolutely normal, but I will note that in tournaments with such regulations it is still more profitable when strong teams end up in the same group with you. In this situation, in the semi-finals we may get a simpler opponent. Although, whatever one may say, to get to Beijing we must win both playoff matches, no matter who we meet. In our particular case, I would pay more attention to the competition schedule. It is quite strange that with eight teams, only three matches are played in one game day. With this schedule, each of the participating teams at the preliminary stage has a day free from games, but for our team the day off falls on the starting round. This means that if the Russians reach the final, they will have to go to the court for five days in a row. Serbia found itself in the same situation. The hosts, of course, have a convenient schedule - a day off after the first two games.”
As Vladimir Patkin said, there was previously a preliminary agreement that if the hosts do not fall into the same group with us, then we can play one or two test matches with Germany. The celebration of the New Year for the volleyball players of the national team will be short-lived - on January 2, the girls must arrive at the training base in Novogorsk near Moscow.
If we talk about our upcoming rivals, the Russians beat Croatia with a score of 3:0 at the European Championship; in September they lost to the Serbs in five games in qualifying for the 2008 Grand Prix. For the Romanian national team, the definition of “dark horse” is more suitable. In recent years, the Romanians have not achieved anything serious, but in early November they won the tournament of the previous qualifying stage in the Bulgarian Gabrovo. The main striking force of the Romanians is Iuliana Nuciu and Carmen Turlea from the Italian Serie A1 club Sassuolo.
In fact, the tournament in Halle is turning into the second European Championship, although without the winner of the 2007 continental championship, Italy, which won the World Cup and has already qualified for the Olympics in company with the winners of the competition in Japan, Brazil and the United States. With the exception of Russia, Serbia and theoretically Poland, the remaining participants in the final stage of the continental selection have no right to misfire.
The world ranking has now become of enormous importance, although some teams earn precious points without putting in almost any effort. Japan, having hosted all the most important international competitions in recent years, is consistently in the top dozen. Some national teams (for example, volleyball players of the Dominican Republic), enjoying the favor of the FIVB, receive a “wild card” for major tournaments, which guarantees a “living” minimum of rating points.
Tomorrow the draw for a similar men's selection will take place in Izmir. The fight continues with European champion Spain, Serbia, Türkiye, Italy, Germany, Poland, Finland, and Holland. The last five teams participated in three prequalification tournaments in Italy, Portugal and Hungary in late November and early December. As a result of these competitions, such a strong team as the silver medalist of the 2006 World League France finally said goodbye to their Olympic hopes.