2024-04-12 01:49:54
The selector of the Bulgarian national team for volleyball players under 20, Miroslav Zhivkov, shared his opinion about the draw that our team drew for the European championship in Serbia and Greece (August 26 – September 7).
Ours got into Group 2, which will be held in the Greek city of Arta. In addition to the hosts, it also includes Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Israel and Scotland.
“What I know from the last years and the competitions we have participated in, including the world championship last year, any team can beat anyone. The teams are extremely equal. With very close sports-technical arguments, close characteristics. I think we A very interesting championship awaits,” Zhivkov told the official website of the Bulgarian Volleyball Federation.
According to the regulations of the European Championship for U20 (born after January 1, 2005), 16 teams participate, divided into two groups of 8. By right, the two hosts – Serbia and Greece – qualify, and the remaining 14 teams gain the right to participate after two qualifications ( the first zonal). The Bulgarian team won a quota in its first attempt, after we achieved three victories in our qualification in Romania in January – over the host, Montenegro and Turkey.
“We have a good team. If we are healthy, do good preparation and do everything necessary as an organization until the championship, we should not have problems. My ambition is to make a good presentation at the European Championship and I believe in the boys,” shared the coach.
From the group phase of EuroVolley 2024, only the first two teams in the final ranking of the two groups qualify (according to the following criteria: matches won, ranking points (*3-0 or 3-1 (3 points), 3-2 (2 points ), 2-3 (1 pt), 1-3 or 0-3 (0 pts), match odds/ratio, match point odds/ratio, head-to-head result).The first and second place finishers in one stream play cross-over in head-to-head elimination against the other two in the second stream.
“We already have a calendar for the preparation, we have scheduled controls and agreed matches. Soon we will announce our program”, pointed out Zhivkov.
According to Zhivkov, there are three or four very strong teams in our Group 2. One of the favorites and as the host is Greece. Our volleyball players will meet the Greek team at the Balkan Championship for this age group (August 12-16), where we are in Group C and with North Macedonia. On the European side, we will face Italy, which is the winner of the championship for men under 20 before 2022. Now the “squad” is ranked as the second best in the second qualification.
“Italy is always the favorite. At the World Cup, they played only one weak match, which cost the team a ranking in the top 4. But this should not deceive us that they are weak. It can happen to any team. It was in direct elimination with them The qualifications now come at a difficult time for all teams, because in every country the internal championships are going on, the players have commitments with their club teams and there is not much time to prepare and play with the national teams.
There are many objective reasons not only for Italy not to be decisive in their results now, but also for other teams. These qualifications give the right to participate, but are not a measure and are not 100 percent objective. I will repeat again that many teams are classy and good. We have to play as well as possible and in every match to upgrade our sports and technical training,” added the coach.
One of the surprises in the group is Team Scotland, who won their zonal qualification with four straight wins and no losses. The country reached the EuroVolley finals for the first time for the age group.
“We don’t know them. In the period of our preparation for the European competition, we will have time for as much information as possible. I can’t say anything about them today”, pointed out Zhivkov.
Slovenia, like us, qualified as the first team from Group 2 of the zonal first qualifier. Spain and the Czech Republic had to play a second qualifier where they secured a quota as the second best in their groups. Israel did it as Group E leaders.