Turkey profits from home advantage and earns Olympic ticket – Volleyball news
In front of more than 7,500 fans, the women’s national volleyball team of Turkey demonstrated a spectacular show and won the European Olympic Qualifiers on Sunday.
The host of the 2012 CEV Women’s European Olympic Qualifiers Turkey defeated Poland in the final showdown and reserved a berth in the London Olympic Games. Turk ladies dominated the scene in final match and made a clean sweep over visiting Polish team. The
final set scores were 3-0 (25-22, 25-22, 25-19). Baskent Hall in TVF Complex, Ankara provided the backdrop for the crucial match and local fans played a big role in Turkey’s victory.
Neslihan Darnel of Turkey totalled match-high 14 points, which included 11 winning spikes. On Poland’s side, Berenika OKUNIEWSKA was the only play with double-digit score. She added 10 points, in the failing effort.
In the first set of the match, both teams played under a lot of stress. It was the most important match of the tournament and there was hardly any space for slip-ups. Hence both team played quite sensibly. Poland opened the match with powerful serves and
added a couple of points on successful attacks, which pushed the hosts to two-point deficit at the first technical timeout (6-8). Darnel and SONSIRMA KIRDAR of Turkey put up valiant effort to chase the score and shorten the gap of points at the next break
(15-16). Turkey got better near the end of first set and achieved set-points at 25-22.
The second set of the match progressed in the similar fashion. Poland came up with variety of attacks but still failed to claim victory. Hosts improved to 2-0 by winning second set with identical score of 25-22.
Finally, Turkey put an end to the tussle by sending 25-19 on board in third set. Poland suffered the loss of important match in straight sets, while Turkey qualified for the Olympics.
Marco Aurelio Motta, head coach of Turkey was into tears of joy after winning the historic match. He commented, “My team could not overcome the stress and could not play well. This success did not come so easily. Every member of the team, the federation,
as well as the spectators and the clubs have contributed to this great victory.”
He further added, “This victory came step by step. We have had our dreams come true by qualifying for the Olympics for the first time. And I would especially like to dedicate this victory to my staff as we have worked with all of them in a lot of tournaments
without demanding any money and with a great deal of self-sacrifice.”
Meanwhile, his Polish counterpart Alojzy Swiderek congratulated the team for their big achievement.
Tags: