2006 Women's World Championship
Ukraine, Greece & Serbia and Montenegro all reach third round (FIVB)
06/12/2005
June
12, 2005 – The Ukraine, ranked 37th in the world,
stormed into the third round of the 2006 Women’s World
Championship after winning the second round tournament -
Europe Pool E in Athens on Sunday with their third
straight victory, beating Belarus 3-0 (25-13, 25-16,
25-23). Greece nervously sneaked their way into the next
phase after finishing second ahead of France and Belarus
only on set ratio difference after France beat Greece
3-2 (25-18, 25-19, 20-25, 23-25, 15-13) on the final day.
Meanwhile, Serbia and Montenegro are guaranteed a third
round spot after claiming their second win in as many
matches in the second round tournament - Europe Pool F
in Croatia. Pic: Ukraine celebrate on their way to a third round
spot
With a third round ticket virtually assured following
their two opening victories, the Ukraine confirmed their
favouritism for the Greek tournament with another
devastating display over Belarus and putting their third
round destiny beyond doubt. They now head to Ankara in
Turkey to play the hosts, the Netherlands and Belgium
from August 5-7.
"Before coming here we had not a lot of preparation time
but the team managed to pull together in just eight days,”
Ukraine coach Igor Filishtynskyy said. “This team has
some brilliant players and they’re not just one of the
top teams in Europe, but in the whole world".
"Ukraine is a very strong team,” Belarus coach Vladimir
Kozlov said. “They will very soon climb to the top of
Europe. We are very happy to have played against such a
strong opponent, but what we needed was to win just one
set today".
Meanwhile, France, already winless after two matches,
needed nothing short of a straight-sets victory over
Greece to clinch the second ticket to the third round
while Greece was under pressure needing just one set.
What followed was a nerve wrecking five-set thriller,
which had everyone reaching for their calculators.
"For us, qualification to the next round was really lost
on Saturday against Belarus,” French coach Yan Sanchez
said. “The Greek team had a lot of pressure in wanting
to qualify. We managed to press them hard, but we made a
crucial error in the third set."
"We knew that we would be very nervous today and
relaxing is what we had been working on since yesterday
evening,” Greek coach Dimitris Andreopoulos said. “We
lost the first two sets because of this stress, but when
we managed to take the lead by a few points in the third
set, we loosened up and with the help of the fans we
pulled through.”
Greece will now play Germany, Poland and the winner of
Europe Pool F in Croatia in a third round tournament in
Dresdan, Germany from June 17-19.
Meanwhile, Serbia and Montenegro, who started their
World Championship campaign in the first round, have
confirmed a top two finish with one day to play
following a 3-0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-19) win over Croatia,
while the Czech Republic beat Slovakia 3-0 (25-18, 25-9,
25-23). The final day sees Slovakia play Serbia &
Montenegro followed by the Czech Republic taking on
Croatia with the three other teams all still in
contention for the second third-round ticket.
