CEV President Aleksandar Boričić visiting Romania for the first stop in his tour of the four host countries
Article
The EuroVolley Pool D matches started yesterday, on August 18, at BT Arena in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and today is the second day of qualifications. It opened with the match between Sweden and Finland, followed by the game between Netherlands and Ukraine.
Results clearly show that the athletes of all four teams felt supported in this edition and particularly during today’s matches.
We have had the opportunity and privilege to interview CEV President Aleksandar Boričić, who travelled to Romania for the first stop in his tour of the four host countries. We have asked him to share his feelings about this CEV EuroVolley 2021. We talked with him about the event hosted by Romania and the EuroVolley 2021 Women in general.
“The previous EuroVolley held in 2019 was a great success. After two years our main goal is the same - to make it a great event in all countries. At this moment, due to the pandemic, the restrictions do not allow the spectators to fill the arena to full capacity. Spectators are important not only for our organisation, but also for the athletes, because they can perform much better if they feel supported by the fans.” Aleksandar Boričić - CEV President
Romania, one of the four host countries, demonstrates a high-level organisation and attributes a great importance to sport.
“In Romania the venue is excellent. It’s just the first game but I would like to thank the Local Organising Committee of Romania for the great support. I am also sure that in other countries we will have the same high quality.” Aleksandar Boričić - CEV President
The second day for the EuroVolley Women Pool D opened with the match between neighbours Sweden and Finland, and continued with the game featuring the Netherlands and Ukraine. The four teams delivered two exciting matches to spread positive vibes even further.
“We want to take care of everyone, we have pursued gender’s equality for many years and we are happy with the decision made: I am very happy that we are providing a level playing field, but we want to support each athlete.” Aleksandar Boričić - CEV President
And certainly the athletes of all the four teams playing felt supported in this edition and particularly during today’s match, as we can see from the results.
The two big contenders from Scandinavia - Sweden and Finland, fought until the end of the match, when Sweden defeated the opponent team sending the game into the last decisive set, due to Haak’s impressive play, who scored 42 points.
For Finland this is the 4th EuroVolley, while Sweden ends a 38 years absence from the international stage, so both teams were excited for this match.
However, the second match of the day from Group D, Netherlands and Ukraine, had their first game in host country Romania. For Ukraine this was the 9th European Championship. Netherlands, on the other side, have competed in 28 of the 31 European Championships and won the title in 1995.
Also, the Romanian ambassador was present at today’s matches, confirming EuroVolley Women 2021 as an attended and incredible competition.