Turkey
With twelve teams featuring Europe’s finest under 19 players, the competition will undergo on Saturday at beautiful Baskent and new renovated Ahmet Hall where the elite will be looking to claim Europe’s most prestigious trophy at this age category.
The Turkish Volleyball Federation (TVF) appointed more than hundred volunteers to work on the event and serve the participating teams to bring the competition to a complete success. Although Turkey may not be one of Europe’s traditional forces in this age category (bronze medal in 2008) but they are featuring the team which claimed gold at the 2011 CEV Youth Volleyball European Championship – Girls as well as at the 2011 FIVB Volleyball Girls’ Youth World Championship. Titleholder of the CEV Junior Volleyball European Championship – Women is Italy with four (!) consecutive triumphs.
National and local media showed great interest to follow up the preparations for the big event led by host TV broadcaster NTV Spor. Other local TV and radio channels have also a daily coverage on Air for the current preparations. Jury President and CEV Vice-President Mr. Jan Hronek was very pleased with the preparations made by the Turkish Volleyball Federation. “The staff from TVF is very experienced in organizing big volleyball events. Once more they showed their great skills by setting up an exemplary stage for Europe’s best young athletes ready to shine.”
All twelve teams are now installed in their bases in Turkey’s capital city which provides a perfect platform for the next generation of stars to showcase their skills on the continental stage and potentially take the big step into the giant world of the senior ranks. The action gets under way on Saturday at 14.00 (local time) with host Turkey challenging Belgium and 2008 4th ranked Germany facing Russia. A total of 38 matches will be played during the tournament, running from August 18-26.
The Preliminary Phase of the 2012 CEV Junior Volleyball European Championship – Women is split into two pools of six teams with the top two from each pool advancing to the semifinals. Pool I comprises 2010 runner-up Serbia, host Turkey, Slovakia, Slovenia, Belgium and France. Pool II sees title holder Italy defending their reputations versus 2010 bronze medalist the Czech Republic, Russia, Poland, Germany as well as Bulgaria.
CEV Junior Volleyball European Championship – Women Records
2010 in Serbia: Italy (gold), Serbia (silver), Czech Republic (bronze)
2008 in Italy: Italy (gold), Russia (silver), Turkey (bronze)
2006 in France: Italy (gold), Croatia (silver), Ukraine (bronze)
2004 in Slovakia: Italy (gold), Serbia & Montenegro (silver), Russia (bronze)
2002 in Croatia: Poland (gold), Ukraine (silver), Belarus (bronze)
Junior & Youth World Ranking – Women (participating teams)
4. Italy 5. Turkey 6. Serbia 8. Poland 11. Germany 12. Slovakia 13. Belgium 22. Russia 30. Czech Republic 38. Slovenia 54. Bulgaria 54. France.
