Polish volleyball players lead the group after two sets of matches in the Olympic qualifying tournament in Xian, China. Their next rival will be Canada, who also won two matches. The Whites and Reds started the tournament with a difficult match against Belgium, which they only beat in the tie-break. They had far fewer problems in Sunday’s match against Bulgaria, which they won 3-0.
“We learned the lesson from the first match: a moment of inattention and a sleepy start can have the same consequences as in the match against Belgium, five sets. In the match against Bulgaria, we tried to play very well from the start. This team is, in my opinion, a class above Belgium “It’s even better that we only played three sets this time,” Jakub Kochanowski emphasized in an interview with Polsat Sport.
“The next team put pressure on us in the first set and I think every subsequent team will also want to break us. It’s good that we didn’t let ourselves lose this set. We reacted quicker and won in three sets. The most important thing is that we triumphed, because victories are the most important, but three sets will allow us to recover faster,” added the midfielder.
Before the start of the qualifying tournament, it seemed that Argentina and the Netherlands were the teams between which the question of promotion to second place in the group would be decided, because the Whites and the Reds are clearly the favorites of all the competition. But after two sets of matches it turned out that Canada, which had already beaten the Netherlands (3:2) and Argentina (3:1), would also count in the fight for promotion.
The best two teams from the three qualifying tournaments will ensure their participation in the Paris Olympic Games. France is guaranteed the start as host, and the remaining participants will be selected based on international rankings.
Live coverage and results of the Poland – Canada match from 10:00 on Polsatsport.pl.
