Algeria, Chinese Taipei to vie for final slot in 2012 FIVB Grand Prix – Volleyball news
Women’s national volleyball teams of Algeria and Chinese Taipei are getting ready to rumble at the playoffs of the 2012 FIVB Grand Prix scheduled to be held on April 27 and 28.
The winner of the playoffs will capture the only available spot at the world’s premier annual women’s volleyball tournament.
The FIVB Grand Prix is played by 16 teams from all over the world. Teams from different volleyball federations and regions join the competition and showcase their thirst for volleyball supremacy. So far, a total of 15 teams have been finalised via different
qualification tournaments.
Germany, Poland, Italy, Poland, Serbia, and Turkey qualified through CEV European Championship. Argentina and Brazil, Dominican Republic, Cuba, United States, and Puerto Rico earned the Grand Prix tickets via X Pan American Games in 2011. China, Japan, South
Korea, and Thailand qualified for the Grand Prix by doing exceptionally well at the 16th Asian Women’s Championship last year.
Now there is only one slot left, which will be occupied either by Algeria or Chinese Taipei. The two sides will face-off for the final spot in this year’s FIVB Volleyball World Grand Prix in the upcoming playoffs. Algeria and Chinese Taipei are the representatives
of African and Asian regions, respectively.
The Algerian city Oran will host the crucial matches, which will provide a competitive edge to the host team in the competition. This will mark second consecutive year that Algeria is hosting the playoffs. Last year, they dropped the decision to Kazakhstan.
Only two matches will be played, in order to determine the qualifying team. If both teams end up winning one match, the team with better set and point ratio will qualify for Grand Prix.
The successful team of the playoffs will join USA, Germany and the Dominican Republic in Pool B. Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic will host Pool B matches of the 2012 FIVB Grand Prix in the first week.
In the next week, the qualifying team (Algeria/Chinese Taipei) will be placed in Pool G alongside Poland, Korea and hosts China. Pool G matches will be played in Foshan, China. Likewise, the team will compete against USA, Serbia, and Thailand in Pool J on
third weekend.
Algeria is the African champion and has high hopes to qualify for the FIVB Grand Prix. The Algerian squad has already qualified for the 2012 London Olympic by winning African Qualification Tournament in the last month.
On the other hand, Chinese Taipei will be hoping to win the competition. They missed out the qualification in 2011 and seem determined to return to the Grand Prix. The 20th edition of the FIVB Grand Prix will take centre stage on June 8 and it will be continued
till July 1.
Tags: