JUST A STEP AWAY FROM THE MEDAL

Jointly held by Azerbaijan and Georgia, the European Women's Volleyball Championship ended with a grand final match. It was a decisive game of the championship between the national teams of Serbia and the Netherlands. Serbians became the winner while the Dutch and Turkish teams were the second and third finalists, respectively. After losing the match with Turks for the third place, our volleyball team again was the fourth, like 12 years ago.

The national team coached by Faig Garayev repeated the result of 2005. Although the team left the championship without medals, the fight that the Azerbaijani volleyball players demonstrated in the group tournament indicates that they were worthy bronze medals at least. But two defeats in a row at the last moment have crossed all the hopes.

The performance of the national team in Euro-2017 gave rise to two conflicting feelings. At the group stage, our team was the best. After defeating the teams of Hungary and Poland (3:0) and the German national team (3:1), the girls again met with Germans in the quarterfinals. This time the Azerbaijani team whitewashed the Germans scoring 3:0. Nevertheless, our team could not tune in to play with the Dutch team. One of the most intense games of the championship took a lot of energy.

In the semi-final, we could not see powerful strikes of Polina Rahimova and Natalya Mammadova, Xenia Poznyak's blocks with Alyona Hasanova, a reliable defense of Valeriya Mammadova, and precise strikes of Xenia Yagubova. Azerbaijani players won the first set of the game with the Dutch national team. But then we began making unforgivable mistakes and conceded two sets in a row. In the fourth set, our players managed to close the gap of 7 points putting in titanic efforts and equalized the score. But they were forceless to record a historic victory in the decisive fifth set (2:3). After this defeat, the Azerbaijani team had to focus on the game for bronze medals. However, fatigue and psychological pressure prevented the team from demonstrating a full-fledged performance...

In the match for bronze medals, our rival was the Turkish team, which has recently become an uncomfortable rival for us. It was time for action. Although we won the first set, Turkish volleyball players finished the subsequent three sets with victory (3:1).

Valeriya Mammadova was included in the symbolic team of eight volleyball players. In addition, three volleyball players from national teams of Serbia and the Netherlands and one representative of the Turkish national team were represented in this team. V. Mamedova was named the best libero of the championship.

After the prestigious competition, President Ilham Aliyev received the Azerbaijani volleyball players and congratulated them on successful performance. "It was a very interesting fight. The championship demonstrated the level of our volleyball. In general, the European Women's Volleyball Championship was very successful; the organization was at a high level. The leaders of European federations and other guests also noted this". Mr. Aliyev stressed that the championship was held not only in Baku, but also in the city of Goygol, which is an evidence of the development of sports infrastructure in regions of Azerbaijan.

I. Aliyev reminded that the 25^th anniversary of the establishment of the National Olympic Committee of Azerbaijan was recently celebrated, and high-ranking sports officials from all over the world in their speeches at this event noted that Azerbaijan had achieved huge, incredible successes. "Our successes in sport are mainly associated with individual kinds of sport. I believe that women's volleyball is in the first place in team sports," said President Aliyev. Stressing that the conquest of the fourth place in Europe is a great achievement, the president said that the victories over the rivals with a big advantage in the group stage and in the quarterfinals were unexpected for the fans. "I understand that you are saddened by failure to win a medal. But you will have many other competitions in the future. I am confident that there will be victories. The main thing is that you performed well," said I. Aliyev. He added that the team showed great skills and was close to winning the semifinal match. President also said that sport remains a sport. Events here develop in different ways.

The President appreciated the efforts of the senior coach of the national team Faig Garayev, emphasizing that the development of modern women's volleyball in Azerbaijan is associated with his name. I. Aliyev also pointed out that the organizing activity of the volleyball federation on creating good conditions for athletes has risen to a qualitatively new level. President once again expressed his gratitude to the players, who are striving to achieve such good results demonstrating high skills and gaining love of their fans.

Also, President Ilham Aliyev signed an order on providing ₼2 million to the Azerbaijani Volleyball Federation for the successful performance of the team at the European Championship.

In general, the performance of the national team coached by Faig Garayev in the European Championship can be considered successful. The fourth place of the European Championships is a positive result. Unfortunately, our volleyball players still cannot win medals at these championships. Head coach Faig Garayev bears the heaviest mission in the team. Since the team does not have a worthy replacement of the main line-up, the same volleyball players lead in all the games. This significantly complicates the work of the coach. On Euro-2017, all the teams, except the Azerbaijani team, had good substitute players. The reason for this is the lack of competition in the championship of the country, where only four teams participate. Our main volleyball players maintain their good shape playing in foreign championships only. The team was represented in almost all games with a single team, and the leaders held the championship without substitutes. Let us not forget that in 2018 the national team of Azerbaijan will take part in even more prestigious competition, the World Cup. Therefore, we should start preparatory works now.