2006 World Championships
SixEuropean teams advance to third round as Belgium’s fairytale continues(FIVB)
05/29/2005
May
29, 2005 - Four men’s teams – the Ukraine, the Czech
Republic, Finland and Germany – and two women’s sides -
Azerbaijan and Belgium – all advanced to the third round
of the 2006 World Championships after three European
second round tournaments were completed on Sunday.
All four pools in the European third round of the 2006
Men’s World Championship are now complete following
Sunday’s second round action. In group F in the Czech
Republic, the Ukraine and the home side finished first
and second respectively after the world number 40
Ukraine beat the Czech Republic (ranked 25th) 3-1
(19-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-23) in the deciding match.
Sunday’s other game saw Denmark beat first round
winner’s England 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-23) to finish
third. Pic: Croatia on the attack against Slovenia at the 2006 Men's World Championship
second round tournament - Europe Group H in Finland
The result means the Ukraine will now head to Napoli in
Italy in the third round in July to play the hosts,
Spain and Germany, who finished second in Group H on
Sunday. The Czech Republic will play France, the
Netherlands and Finland, who won Group H, in Le Cannet
at the same time.
Group H also featured an upset result on the final day
with world number 33 Finland beating Germany, who are
ranked 24th in the world, 3-1 (23-25, 25-18, 25-23,
25-21) to win the pool while first round advancer’s
Slovenia beat Croatia 3-0 (25-19, 25-21, 28-26) to
finish third in the group.
Meanwhile, in the 2006 Women’s World Championship,
Azerbaijan and Belgium became the first teams in Europe
to advance to the third round after finishing first and
second respectively at the second round tournament –
Group D on Sunday.
World number 32 Azerbaijan had to beat Romania, who were
ranked nine places higher at 23, on the final day to win
the group and they duly delivered with a 3-1 (25-16,
21-25, 25-21, 26-24) win while first round advancer’s
Belgium, ranked 66th in the world, kept their World
Championship dream alive by beating first round winner’s
Spain in straight sets (28-26, 25-17, 25-18) to claim
the second third-round ticket.
Azerbaijan now have a challenging third round assignment
in Moscow in the beginning of July with Russia, Bulgaria
and another second round advancer while Belgium will
play Turkey, the Netherlands and another first round
team in Ankara in August.
