13.01.2020
Turkey defeated Germany in successive sets in the final of the European Olympic qualifier for women’s volleyball to book their place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The victory at the Olympic qualifier in the Netherlands, means Turkey’s women’s team, known as the Sultans of the net, have qualified for their second Olympic Games, after having competed at London 2012.
The stakes were incredibly high, with only one ticket available for Tokyo 2020 at the tournament. But Turkey’s volleyball stars came through to secure a historic victory against the Germans.
Turkey came into the match as the underdog, having been defeated by Germany 25-15, 21-25, 25-21, 25-21, earlier in the competition.
However, the Germans could not repeat their triumph as Turkey put in a dominant performance to win 25-17, 25-19 and 25-22 at the Omnisport Arena in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn.
Having lost to Germany in their opening match, Turkey needed a win to keep their qualification hopes alive. And a win is what they got after a convincing 3-1 (28-26, 12-25, 20-25, 21-25) victory against Croatia.
In the third and last game of the group, Turkey defeated Belgium in a nail-biting match. After having gone two sets up (25-20, 25-15), Turkey lost the following two sets (20-25, 22-25) but were able to finally overcome Belgium in the tie break with a score 15-10.
Having finished second in their group, Turkey had to face Poland in the semi-finals. It was another good performance by the Sultans of the net who defeated Poland in five sets (25-19, 18-25, 25- 23, 31-33, 11-15).
Having now secured their ticket to Tokyo 2020, Turkey join Japan, Serbia, China, the United States, Brazil, Russia, Italy, Kenya, Argentina and South Korea as the teams to have qualified for the Olympic Games.