Russia wins Olympic pre-qualifier in Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad, Russia, November 13, 2011. Russia booked this afternoon a ticket for the Olympic qualification tournament scheduled for May 2012 in Istanbul after claiming the final match of the pre-qualifier where the 2006 and 2010 World champions got back to their usual standards redeeming the extremely poor and disappointing performance displayed at the 2011 CEV Volleyball European Championship only a few weeks ago. 
The home girls delighted a crowd of 6’200 seeing off their rivals from Romania with the score of 3:1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-11, 25-18). After dominating the scene in their previous matches, none doubted that the Russians were going to pocket the final as well but Romania fought bravely against the always terrific attacks of Russian star Ekaterina Gamova. Although her efficiency decreased to less than 50%, she still remained the best scorer of the game with a total of 28 points. 
Romania took home the second set with a very solid defense that compensated some inconsistency in attack and prolonged many rallies the Russians thought were already finished. The fans who attended the final could hence enjoy a very nice game although the victory of the home girls was never to be questioned.