2008 Men’s World Olympic Qualification Tournament- Espinho, Portugal

Day 3 Poland secured the ticket to Beijing Olympic Games Espinho, Portugal, June 1, 2008- The 2006 World Championship runner up Poland secured Beijing Olympic ticket following their stunning victory over Portugal in the third and final day of the 2008 Men’s World Qualification tournament here at Nave Municipal de Espinho hall in Portugal on Sunday. The Polish team who lost the European championship qualification ticket since few days succeeded to come back quickly, to achieve the prestigious Olympic berth leaving Portugal at the second position in the round robin tournament. Puerto Rico will leave home with a victory under their built finishing third after their win over Indonesia who finished at the bottom of the tournament. The qualification put the fifth world ranked Poland in the Olympic Games for the third time in the last four Olympics as they were in the draw of Atlanta 1996 and Athens 2004 Poland head coach Raul Lozano was very happy with both the performance in the final match and also the qualification to this prestigious Olympic Games, but he stated that he is waiting for better performance in Beijing. “The Olympic Games is a very important step in the career of these players and we want to perform better there against the world’s best teams,” Said Lozano. Portugal Head Coach, Jorge Schmidt referred the defeat to the lack of concentration in reception and expressed his sadness to lose home. “It is very difficult for me to be here defeated. I want to congratulate Poland for their qualification to the Olympic Games and I wish them good luck. In this match Poland was superior to Portugal although in the third set things were even and we were near to win the set that might make a come back.” Said Schmidt. Poland needed 79 minutes to achieve the victory over Portugal in straight sets 25-21, 25-19, 26-24) after thriller volleyball action specially from Poland side who disturbed their opponent with their outstanding service that facilitate their way to the tournament’s third victory that put them at the top of the round robin tournament. During the match the winners showed their talent with masterly skills specially the right attacker Mariusz Wlazly who was the match scorer with 13 points equal with the left attacker Sebastian Swiderski as well as the brilliant setter Pawel Zagumny who led the combinations that wasn’t tolerated by Portugal team. The host team tried their best in the third set but a yellow card for Andre Lopez in the critical time wasted the chance. Puerto Rico left the Olympic qualification in Portugal with one memorial as they edged Indonesia in straight sets 25-21, 25-21, 25-22 in 63 minutes. The Puerto Rico coach Carlos Cardona played with a new line up keeping the 2006 World championship top scorer Hector Soto on the bench with the middle blocker Enrique Escalante who played only few points at the end, but the substitutes were more motivated to win and leave something positive before going back home. The opposite player who replaced Soto came as the match best scorer with 16 points that played a great role in the victory. How to face the disappointment was the main aim of Puerto Rico head coach Carlos Cardona before the match. “It was a difficult game for us because there was a big disappointment for losing the chance to be in the Olympics.” Said Cardona. “It was very hard to prepare the players both physically and psychologically and we did a very big effort to make the team in this performance today. I made some changes in the standing players and tried to give the chance to younger players.” He added. Puerto Rico Captain Hector Soto was happy with the victory although he spent the match on the bench. “We have to win this match to improve our image. This tournament is very disappointing because we came her to win and qualify to the Olympics, but we couldn’t do that. The players did everything to win this match so we are very happy to finish with a victory.” Soto Said. Indonesia head coach Hu Xinyo repeated that his team came to Portugal to practice and have nothing to lose.