A LITTLE DOES NOT COUNT

The European women's volleyball championship has ended for Faiq Qarayev's team earlier than desired even though such an outcome was not unexpected. Azerbaijani volleyball players started the continental championship quite poorly and could not proceed very far. It was obvious that after losing at the start to Turkey and Italy (3:1 each), the Azerbaijani team can hardly count on the playoffs. Yet, our players did their best in the last group stage match and eventually moved to the next stage. Thus, the national team's third game in the championship slightly sweetened the bitterness of the early defeats. To advance to the next stage, our girls had to win the last match by at least 2 points. And Qarayev's team did just that, beating Croatia 3-1.

Nevertheless, Azerbaijan was knocked out of the playoffs. The encounter with the Dutch national team proved decisive. By keeping the score after the first set, Qarayev's girls seemed to be advancing to victory, but they failed to keep the advantage. After losing the second set despite an early lead, the Azerbaijani team ended up under "psychological pressure" and gave the following two sets with little resistance. Taking advantage of the mistakes, the Dutch went ahead to win the match 3:1. Thus, losing three out of four sets, the Azerbaijani team had to leave the championship.

However, 9th place in this European championship should not be considered too bad a result for the Azerbaijani team which has participated in the continental competition for the fourth time. In its first European championship in Croatia in 2005, Azerbaijan finished fourth. In 2007, in Belgium, the Azerbaijani team dropped to 12th and repeated this "achievement" in Poland in 2009.

This year, the main problem for Faiq Qarayev's team was a shortage of substitutes. Almost all games were played by the same players, whereas other teams had longer benches. Since there is rivalry for Olympic licenses on the agenda, the problem of more players needs to be addressed as soon as possible.

To earn a license to the London Games is quite feasible, coach Qarayev says. In comments on the results of the European championship and the likelihood of participation in the Games, he said, "I did not expect that we would leave the European championship so soon. The team has a great potential, so I was confident that we would advance further. It is true that we are experiencing problems with players, and everybody knows that. Natalya Mammadova did not play for the last three months at all, Oksana Parkhomenko played only a few games for Dynamo

Moscow, while Ksenia Kovaleva lost match practice staying in reserves for Locomotive. We only had 15 days to prepare for the championship, while our opponents had trained from the beginning of the year. Yet I am confident in the team. If the girls show the desire and will, we can qualify for the Olympics. It is quite a feasible task."