Favourites unfazed, through to 2019 #EuroSittingVolley men’s semis

Budapest, Hungary, 18 July 2019 – All the favourites advanced to Friday’s men’s semifinals of the 2019 Sitting Volleyball European Championships following convincing straight-set wins in Thursday’s quarterfinals.

Defending champions Russia downed Serbia 3-0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-17) to stay on track for back-to-back titles.

The two undefeated sides of Bosnia & Herzegovina and Germany also made it comfortably through with wins over Latvia 3-0 (25-14, 25-14, 25-8) and the Netherlands 3-0 (25-10, 25-16, 25-18) respectively.

Ukraine, last year’s runners-up, made up the numbers with a tighter 3-0 (25-22, 25-23, 25-21) victory over Croatia.

But further down the rankings, playing for positions 9-12, Turkey and Lithuania, both winless after pool play, snagged their first victories in this tournament on Thursday and go head-to-head on Friday for the coveted 9th place which comes with an automatic ticket to the Division A European Championships of 2021.

Led by Mehmet Yilmaz who bagged the day’s high of 30 points, Turkey twice came back from a set down to edge hosts Hungary 3-2 (17-25, 25-20, 24-26, 25-19, 15-9). Lithuania made an easier job of Poland, who were reeling on the disappointment of having very narrowly just missed out on a quarterfinal ticket, with a 3-1 (25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 25-23) win.