Cyprus
We are very proud of your work” said CEV Vice President Jan Hronek at a press conference held today just before the start of the first round qualifier for the 2012 CEV Junior Volleyball European Championship that will run through this weekend in Limassol.
Earlier in the morning Mr. Hronek, who is in Cyprus as CEV Supervisor for the Limassol tournament, had already inspected and approved the local competition hall.
“I welcome here the delegations of Switzerland and Croatia and wish them a very pleasant stay on our sunny island” added Damianos Hadjidamianou, President of the Cyprus Volleyball Federation.
“In Volleyball we are lucky enough to have two excellent national coaches through which we strive to give our athletes all the provisions necessary for them to take on their opponents from the rest of Europe” stressed Mr. Hadjidamianou.
The head coach of team Cyprus, Kostas Delikostas, concentrated more on the technical side of the competition: “After a transitional period for the Cyprus national team we are finally entering a major competition. Compared to our opponents we lack in body types, but I can promise that we play good Volleyball as far as technique and tactics are concerned” he singled out.
“We are all very happy to be playing in this tournament and we pledge to give our best” concluded team captain Marios Agapiou.
The competition in Limassol begins on Friday evening when Switzerland takes on Croatia. Cyprus hosts Switzerland on Saturday and Croatia on Sunday. All matches start at 19:00 local time (17:00 GMT). The top team of the tournament qualifies for the second round qualifier scheduled for next April in Ukraine against the hosts plus Belgium, Hungary, Israel and the Netherlands.
