Serbian Men’s Junior Team successfully completes qualification stage – Volleyball news
The men’s junior volleyball teams from different European countries recently competed for slots in the upcoming 2011 Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Men’s Junior World Championship. The Biennial international competition of the Men’s Junior World Championship is set to take place in Brazil from August 5 to 28. Russia was the only European country which already reserved a berth at the 2011 FIVB Junior World Championship by winning the 2010 CEV Men’s Junior Championship. This meant that the rest of the 18 teams had to go through a qualification process.
Serbia was also among the countries which recently qualified for the Junior World Championship. The Serb squad was included in Pool B of the Qualification Tournament. They were joined by teams from Turkey, Belarus, Latvia and Montenegro. They appeared in four matches and finished the round with a perfect record. Serbs proved their mesmerizing volleyball skills and grabbed huge success. They clawed their way to the top position in Pool B and booked a slot in the 2011 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship.
Serbia played its first match against Turkey on May 18. The Turks started out really well and created a lot of headaches for the Serbians. The neck to neck match was thrilling to watch. However, Serbs managed to pull off a win in their first match of the qualification tournament.
Following the early success against Turkey, the pumped-up Serbs staged a stellar performance in the second match. The team from Latvia failed to put up with the heavy attack from the Serbian strikers. The better defence and solid blocking of Serbian players enabled the team to extend its lead to 2-0. Latvia lost the match in straight sets on 20th May.
In the third match of the qualification, Team Montenegro challenged the Serbs. Montenegrin squad put up a great effort and did an amazing job. However, the five-set nail-biter ended up in Serbia’s favour and helped them maintain their winning streak.
The last fixture of the qualification round brought the Serbian team in front of hosts, Belarus. The match was attended by a good number of local fans. Nonetheless, the native fans had to leave the hall with heavy hearts as Serbia posted a 3-1 victory over the hosts. This last match was played on May 22.
Serbia earned the maximum points in Pool B and carved its name amongst the qualifiers of the 2011 FIVB Men’s Junior World Championship.
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