Turkish women start preparations for Olympic Qualifiers – Volleyball news
The women’s national volleyball of Turkey is about to start home training for the upcoming Olympic Qualifiers. The training session will be kicked off on April 24 and it will be continued until April 29.
Turkey is scheduled to play host to the Olympic Qualifying Tournament from May 1-6 in Ankara. A total of eight European teams will be on board to vie for the Olympic Ticket. Among the 8 participants of the competition, only one team will secure the berth
at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Teams from Germany, host Turkey, Bulgaria, Croatia, Russia, Poland and the Netherlands are up for the Olympic ticket. The grid of eight teams will be divided into two groups. The host Turkey will be joined by Germany, Bulgaria, and Croatia in Group I, while
the Netherlands, Serbia, Poland, and Russia will be placed in Group II.
Top two teams from both groups will advance to the semi-finals and two finalists will be decided via semis. Eventually, the winner of final showdown will seize the Olympic Ticket.
Turkish mentor Marco Aurelio Motta is quite confident about his team. Speaking of the upcoming challenge, he stated, “We have no time to go for major changes in the group; we just have to work hard and concentrate on our tasks. We may get a unique opportunity
to qualify for the Olympics and we shall be good enough not to miss it.”
He further added, “Apart from Russia, Germany, Serbia and Turkey are in my opinion the real contenders for this Olympic berth. However, the best team on paper does not always claim such a kind of tournaments and there are always surprises round the corner.
Our defeat to Croatia in the final round of the European Championship is a good example in this sense.”
Turkey has indeed a strong team-line, which is composed of experienced players. Özgenur Yurtdagülen is the only new player, who has been added to Turkish roster in the recent times.
Following the training session in Ankara, the Turkish team will also travel to Netherland, in order to play two friendly matches.
Tags: