Team volleyball players Russia the chances of performing at the Paris Olympics are slim, but the team remains hopeful of being able to participate in the tournament, the Olympics silver medalist told Dmitry Volkov .
In June, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) extended the suspension of teams and athletes from Russia and Belarus from international competitions. The Paris Olympic Games will be held from July 26 to August 11, 2024.
– The Russian team is in its second year without international tournaments. Does this downtime affect the level of the team?
— I can’t say how we look now compared to other top teams. But it seems to me that at least we are not far behind them. Or maybe we’re not far behind. We are in good shape.
The European Championship has started. How interested are you without our team?
– In any case, we will watch all the best matches, follow. We have to watch European volleyball to be ready and fit when they let us in.
– But the top teams will probably feel better at the European Championship without one of the favourites?
– I think so.
– What do you think, are we going to play at the Paris Olympics?
– To be realistic, it seems to me that we have minimal chances, given the current situation in Russian sport. Hopefully they’ll let us in anyway, all we have left is faith. Even if there is the slightest chance, why not take advantage of it if it arises,” Volkov told .
According to the volleyball tournament selection system, six teams will receive Olympic tickets following the results of the qualifying tournament in the fall of 2023. One ticket was given to the French team as the host of the Games. The remaining five places will be distributed among the top five teams in the FIVB World Ranking after the completion of the 2024 Nations League Qualifiers in the following order of priority: 1. teams from continents without qualified teams; 2. The best teams not yet qualified.
Source : MatchTV
I’m John White and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. My specialty is covering sports news, which I’ve been doing for over 6 years now. During this time, I have worked as an author with Athletistic, a popular online news website focusing on sports topics.
