Egypts’s Zamalek wins the 2012 African Men’s Club Volleyball Championship

 The Egyptian men downed the hosts Tunisia in the final showdown of the 2012 African Men’s Club Volleyball Championship by sending 3-1 (25-17, 16-25, 25-18, 31-29) on board. The visiting team of Zamalek fought a great battle with Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia and finally emerged successful. The crucial match continued for about 106 minutes and put both teams to a real test of abilities and temperament.

By winning the 2012 African Men’s Club Volleyball Championship, the Egyptian team reserved a berth in the upcoming FIVB World Club Volleyball Championship, which is set to take place in Doha, Qatar later this year. 

The Tunisian city Sousse provided the backdrop for the tournament and received great many volleyball fans from all over the Africa. 

To read more about the final day matches of 2012 African Club Volleyball Championship, hit the following link:

http://www.fivb.org/EN/Media/viewPressRelease.asp?No=34389&Language=en 

Algeria and Libiya qualify for the quarter-finals of 2012 African Men’s Club Volleyball Championship

Borj Bouaririj of Algeria and Libya’s Ahly Ben Ghazi clawed their way to the crucial quarter-final stage of 2012 African men’s club volleyball championship, which is underway in Sousse, Tunisia from April 21-30. 

On day-5 of the tournament Borj Bouaririj defeated Sun Shine of Nigeria in a close match and reserved a berth in the quarter-finals. Algerian men’s posted 3-1 (25-17, 24-26, 32-30, 25-21) victory over Nigerian counterparts. 

Likewise, Libyan Ahly Ben Ghazi crushed the Maldivian team AS Voara and advanced to the quarter-finals. Ahly earned victory with three sets to one, while the final set scores were: 3-1 (25-23, 25-21, 21-25, 25-19). 

Both teams qualified for the quarter-finals from Pool A. The quarter-final are scheduled to start on Friday, April 27. 

For schedule of matches, you can please check the following link: 

http://www.cavb.org/volly/pagescom.php?option=pagedetail&id=132 

Agatha-Seixas of Brazil qualify for the Main Draw – Sanya Open

The Brazilian pairing of Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas Fiqueiredo successfully covered the qualifying stage of the 2012 Sanya Open Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament on Wednesday, April 25. 

The Brazilian duo played two matches in the qualification phase and remained undefeated. They finished both matches in straight sets. 

In the first match, Agatha-Siexas defeated China’s Wang Fan-Yue Y., 2-0 (21-13, 21-9) and followed up their success with another win against Latvian Minusa-Jursone in the next encounter. The second match ended up with final scores of 2-0 (21-12, 21-9). 

The Brazilian team will now return to action on Thursday in the first round of Main-Draw.  They are scheduled to take on Chen Xue and Zhang Xi of China in the first match, while Ukolova-Khomyakova of Russia will clash with the Brazilian duo in the second round. 

To read more about qualifying matches, follow the link:

http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2012/Event/viewPressRelease.asp?No=34328&Language=en

Dutch tandems qualify for the Main Draw at Silesia Open – Beach Volleyball

Two pairs from the Netherlands successfully covered the qualifying stage of the Silesia Open Men’s Beach Volleyball Tournament and advanced to the Main-Draw stage, which is set to take centre stage on Thursday, April 26. 

Brouwer-Meeuwsen and Stiekema-Varenhorst finished the Qualification Tournament with 3-0 record and moved ahead. The qualifying matches held on Tuesday, April 25. 

The results of the Qualification Tournament are as followed:

1.    Brouwer/Meeuwsen (NED) – Bye

2.    Brouwer-Meeuwsen (NED) vs. Zhou-Li (CHN) 2-0 (21-15, 21-17)

3.    Brouwer-Meeuwsen (NED) vs. Mussa-Jackson (VEN) 2-0 (21-13, 23-21)

The duo of Stiekema and Varenhorst appeared in three matches and finished without any loss. The results are as followed: 

1.    Stiekema-Varenhorst (NED) vs. Kmiecik-Bernat (POL)  2-0 (21-9, 21-7)

2.    Stiekema-Varenhorst (NED) vs. Kaczmarek-Walkenhorst (GER) 2-0 (21-15, 21-11)

3.    Stiekema-Varenhorst (NED) vs.  Dollinger-Windscheif (GER) 2-0 (21-19, 21-13)

Toray Arrows qualifies for the final round of 2012 AVC Women’s Club Volleyball Championship

The women’s club volleyball team from Japan, the Toray Arrows, exhibited a stellar performance in the preliminary round-robin of 2012 AVC Club Volleyball Championship and clawed its way to the final round. 

Toray Arrow played its last match of opening round on Tuesday, April 24 and continued with its winning ways. In the fourth match, Japanese musketeers defeated Myanmar’s Asia World in straight sets, 3-0 (25-4, 25-10, 25-9). 

Toray Arrows finished the first round without any loss and got hold of the top slot in Pool A rankings wit 11 points. 

To catch more buzz on Toray Arrow, click the following link: 

http://www.fivb.org/viewPressRelease.asp?No=34325&Language=en 

China's Xue and Zhang Xi aiming for gold at Sanya Open – Beach Volleyball

After claiming gold at the first SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball event of the year 2012, the outstanding Chinese duo of Chen Xue and Zhang Xi is aiming for another title win at the Sanya Open. 

Last week, the Chinese team clinched success at Brasilia Open women’s beach volleyball tournament which had an amazing run from April 15-20 in Brazil. Chinese team defeated the local hosts Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes in the final showdown of the tournament. 

In the next run, Xue and Zhang Xi are shaped up to claw their way to the final victory at home series. The Sanya Open is being held at Southern Chinese resort Sanya. The Chinese duo will be equipped with great support of local fans. Furthermore, the competitive advantage of familiar conditions will also enhance their performance. Xue and Zhange Xi are determined to give the home audience another chance of celebration. 

If you’re interest to know more, you may choose to follow this link: http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2012/Event/viewPressRelease.asp?No=34314

Country Quota Playoffs of Silesia Open Men’s Beach Volleyball Tournament

The Silesia Open Men’s Beach Volleyball Tournament started off in Myslowice, Poland on Tuesday, April and staged the Country Quota Playoffs on the day-1 of the competition. 

A total of 27 duos from six countries competed at the CQs of Silesia Open and only seven tandems qualified for the next stage of the tournament. Following seven duos clinched success at the CQs and advanced to the Qualification Tournament of Silesia Open slated for Wednesday.

1.    Roberto Papagna - Gianluca Oligeri - Italy,

2.    Harley Marques and Evandro Goncalves – Brazil

3.    Kacper Kujawiak and Alex Andryszewski – Poland

4.    Dominik Kmiecik and Bartosz Bernat  - Poland

5.    Jon Stiekema and Christiaan Varenhorst – Germany

6.    Jindrich Weiss and Ondrej Kolder – Czech Republic

7.    Matt Zbyszewsky and Chaim Schalk - Canada

 To read more about the CQs, follow the link: http://www.fivb.org/viewPressRelease.asp?No=34323&Language=en

Country Quota Playoff results – 2012 Sanya Open Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament

The enthralling action of 2012 Sanya Open kicked off on Tuesday, April 24 and Day-1 of the tournament featured the Country Quota Playoffs. 

Two pairs from Germany competed at the CQs of Sanya Open. The pairing of Bieneck and Großner downed compatriots Aulenbrock and Laboureur in straight sets and achieved 2-0 (7-21, 14-21) victory. It took them only 36 minutes to overcome the opponents. 

To read more, please check the following link:

 http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/Competitions/WorldTour/2012/Event/viewPressRelease.asp?No=34322

 

Dutch Volleyball Federation opens media accreditation for the 2012 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final

The double-gender 2012 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship is scheduled to take place from May 30 to June 3 at the Beach of Scheveningen in Hague, Netherlands. Since the event is approaching near, the organising authority of the tournament opened media accreditation on Tuesday, April 24.

The Dutch Volleyball Federation is accepting applications from national and international media, who intend to cover the event. The deadline for the submission of application is May 25.

The Official accreditation form is available here http://www.ekbeachvolleybal2012.nl/assets/media_accreditation_form.pdf

 To know more about the schedule, participating teams and segments of the tournament, you may check the following link:http://www.cev.lu/BeachVolley-Area/Page_BeachVolley.aspx?param=CEV_Euro_Final_2012&ind=2#page=Teams

The Dutch mentor discloses 14-player team for the Olympic Qualifier in Ankara – Volleyball News

The women’s national volleyball team of the Netherlands is supposed to join the Olympic Qualifying tournament in Turkey, which is scheduled to be kicked off on May 1. In this connection, the team has been going through a lot of changes lately. 

In the recent memory, the head coach of Dutch national women’s squad Gido Vermeulen  announced the names of fourteen players, who will compete in the qualifiers. TVF Complex in Ankara, Turkey will provide the backdrop for European qualifying round. 

Here’s the list of short-listed 14 players on Dutch team:

·         Setters: Kim Staelens, Laura Dijkema 

·         Liberos: Janneke van Tienen, Myrthe Schoot 

·         Middle blockers: Caroline Wensink, Robin de Kruijf, Quinta Steenbergen, Nicole Koelhaas

·         Outside hitters: Debby Stam-Pilon, Maret Grothues, Lonneke Slöetjes, Angelique Vergeer 

·         Opposites: Manon Flier (C), Judith Pietersen

To know more, follow the links:

http://www.cev.lu/News.aspx?NewsID=12431&TagType=0&TagContent=0&ID=0&Paging=0&Sd=1/1/1900&Ed=1/1/1900 

http://www.cev.lu/Competition-Area/CompetitionMatches.aspx?ID=555