Press conference #EuroVolleyU19W
“This European Championship is the first major European competition since the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic. It will take place in very strict conditions, according to the rules and protocols provided by the CEV. The competition itself is completely closed to the public and the media. Entrance to the hall is only allowed to players, staff members and organizational staff, who have passed the Covid-19 test with negative results.” – the director of the Croatian Volleyball Federation, Mrs. Valentina Bifflin pointed out and added; “The athletes are quite isolated, each team has its own floor in the hotel, they eat in separate rooms. On each floor, we have special rooms that are prepared for possible positive cases and isolation. We are always accompanied by a person from the Epidemiological Institute of the city Osijek and Osijek-Baranja county, as well as a representative of the CEV Medical Commission, who monitors the course of the competition and ensures that everyone adheres to the prescribed measures. We hope and strongly believe that everything will go as planned.”
The European Championship group in Osijek is organized by the Croatian Volleyball Federation, with the support of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the city of Osijek.
“We have shown that we are ready to adapt to new circumstances relatively quickly. The fact that this is the second competition we are preparing in Osijek in these special epidemiological conditions, speaks for itself. It is important to emphasize that the City of Osijek is a city of sports, so all those who come to Osijek for sporting events always feel comfortable and achieve excellent results. We hope that it will be the same for this competition, which shows moderation, responsibility and uniqueness.” – said the Deputy Major of Osijek, Mr. Boris Pilžota.
The EuroVolleyU19W will be opened by the match between Turkey and Bulgaria on August 22nd at 3 PM in Osijek’s “Gradski vrt” hall, while Croatian youngsters will play their first match against the French national team at 5:30 PM on the same day.
After the French, Croatia will play against Germany the next day, then with Turkey on August 24th, with Bulgaria on August 26th and against Russia on August 27th, all matches to be played at 5:30 PM.
Press conference #EuroVolleyU19W
In the second group in Zenica, the national teams of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Serbia will face off. The two best teams from each group will continue to fight for a medal in Zenica, while the third-placed and fourth-placed teams will play their classification matches from 5th to 8th place in Osijek.
“Performance at this European Championship is of great importance because these are the 12 best European national teams at the moment. I think that matches against such strong teams are a great experience for the development of our talented generation. We expect that three to four players from this team will join our senior national team.” – said the expert secretary of the Croatian Volleyball Federation, Mr. Frane Žanić.
The Croatian U19 national team has been training in Osijek under special conditions since the beginning of July, while the other teams will join them on Thursday. Young Croatian players firmly believe that playing at their home turf will bring them to one of the two places for the Women’s U20 World Championship next year.
“The working conditions are perfect. Safety measures have changed the dynamic of our training session a bit, but we deal with it easily. We train twice a day, respecting social distancing after and waiting for the results of the Covid-19 tests. We have 12 players who are ready to give their best and achieve great results for our nation.” – concluded the Croatia head coach, Mr. Saša Ivanišević, while the captain Mirta Freund added; “The situation in the team is excellent, we have high expectations and want to show ourselves in the best possible light. Our group is pretty tough, but we have trained well and I think we can compete equally with all the teams.”
Mirta Freund, Zorana Brčić, Karla Antunović, Jelena Zdilar, Andrea Koraca, Dijana Karatović, Ana Ištuk, Mia Bilušić, Andrea Mihaljević, Larisa Pauletić, Mia Kainz, Rebecca Scoria are selected to perform for Croatia.
