Volleyball men just miss out on medal

Qualification for Beijing next big target

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The Finnish men's volleyball team ended their remarkable campaign at the European Championships in Moscow with two defeats, and so failed to take a medal.
      In Saturday's semi-final, the Finns went down narrowly to Spain by three sets to two (25-23, 19-25, 22-25, 26-24, 15-10) in a match they could just as easily have won.
      The disappointment of this setback was visible in the bronze final against Serbia, where the Finnish team ran out of gas and the Serbs won 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-21, and 25-16).
     
For all that the team came home with no hardware, this was a breakthrough performance for the Finnish players, and the first time they have made the top four at the European Championships.
      In so doing, they left in their wake several teams with far superior records on paper - including World Championship finalists Poland and World #7 Bulgaria. Italy, too, the 2006 European Champions, were not among the semi-finalists in Moscow.
     
Such is the highly competitive nature of volleyball, however, that finishing in the top four in Europe will not guarantee the team a place at next year's Beijing Olympics. They will have to go back to square one and qualify for one of the eleven available places - in addition to the hosts China.
      In the final game in Moscow, Spain sprang a surprise and snatched the European title after a tight five-set match with the Russian hosts. It was the first time Spain has won a European Championships medal of any colour.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sensational volleyball team sweeps Belgians aside and heads for European semi-finals (13.9.2007)

Links:
  Indesit Men´s Volleyball European Championships, 2007 (Official Site)
  European Championships (Wikipedia)

Helsingin Sanomat