Poland and Russia will play tomorrow’s final of the Women’s European Olympic Qualification Tournament here in Halle, Germany. In Saturday’s semifinals, Russia beat host Germany in straight sets, whereas Poland defeated Serbia 3:1. Only the winner of Sunday’s final will get the invaluable tickets to Beijing 2008.
2008 Olympics will be without the German national team. Germany failed to spring a major surprise as they missed out on the Olympic qualification following a 0-3 semifinal loss to Russia. For the first time since 1992, Germany failed to qualify for the Olympic Games.
“Poland were better, just as the result suggests“, said Serbia Coach Zoran Terzic. Their advantage is their individual class which helps them to play on a high level also when making substitutions. We still have the chance to qualify for the Olympics and I am sure we will see Poland again in Beijing. Serbia captain Vesna Citakovic added: “It was a good match from either side. We committed more easy mistakes in some very important situations and that’s why we lost.”
Poland coach Marco Bonitta was happy: “We played a good match and I am really pleased with our performance. It showed today that we do not just have six or seven good players but twelve, which is a big advantage. Tomorrow, Russia will be favorites, but today we showed just 80 percent of our capability, even though we played very well. If we can do even better tomorrow everything will be possible.”
“It was an important match for us”, stated Poland captain Milena Rosner, “and I am happy about the win but tomorrow is what counts. Then it will be “to be or not to be.”
from: beijing2008.cn
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