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The Latvian national team of U18 boys and U17 girls have found out their opponents in the selection tournament of the European Youth Volleyball Championship of the respective age, the Latvian Volleyball Federation (LVF) reports on Thursday.
According to the lottery group, both the head coach of the Latvian U18 boys ‘national team Mārcis Obrumans and the head coach of the U17 girls’ team Ieva Ņečiporuka are considered good. The opponents of the U18 national team will be volleyball players from Belarus, Greece and Estonia from April 22 to 24. The games will take place in Latvia, but the place of the games will be specified.
“We have already played with Belarus and Estonia. We have both won. We lost to Estonia in the last game in Yerevan. At the beginning of May, we won the decisive battle for Belarus in the European U17 finals in Croatia. I don’t think much has changed in both teams, ”says Obruman, who adds that Greek volleyball players of this age have not been played, they have not been seen in action, but there is nothing to complain about the group. “There will be fewer training opportunities for boys this year, because last year, due to Covid-19, there was distance learning, which gave more opportunities for joint training,” the coach continues, with about a dozen players running for the national team.
A selection of U17 girls in the Croatian city of Varaždin on the same dates will compete with their host Croatia, Romania and Estonia. “Seeing the composition of the group, we had a feeling that we could play. Estonians know that we can fight them. It is difficult to say anything about the other opponents at the moment. The favorite will probably be the hostess Croatia. This is evidenced by the second place in the first qualifying tournament. However, countries such as the Netherlands could also be opposed. The group is grateful, ”opponents Nechiporuk said.
“It is important to motivate the girls that this time we really can. Even before the first round of the competition, there was not much time for training, but we managed to progress. I hope that this time the result will be better, “says Nechiporuk, adding that out of 15 candidates, 12 volleyball players will go to Croatia. For both teams, one training camp is planned for the spring holidays and the other for the Easter holidays before the qualifying tournament. Both boys and girls are playing in the Enthusiasts Volleyball League (EVL) this season, which promotes the play of young volleyball players. The final tournament with the participation of 12 teams is planned for U18 young people from 8 to 17 July in Tbilisi, and for U17 young women from 16 to 24 July – in the Czech Republic.
