MINSK, 5 May (BelTA) – Belarus has named its squad for the qualification event for the 2021 Men's European Volleyball Championship which is to be hosted by Poland, Finland, the Czech Republic, and Estonia, BelTA learned from the press service of Shakhtyor Soligorsk.
The Belarusian national team will play its qualifying matches in Pool G against Portugal, Hungary and Norway in Hungary on 7-9 May.
The second tour is slated for 14-16 May in Portugal.
The Belarusian lineup is as follows: Konstantin Tyushkevich, Aleksei Kurash, Ilya Burov, Vadim Pronko, Maksim Shkredov, Konstantin Panasenko, Artyom Masko, Maksim Bogatko, Ilya Morogoc, Vladislav Davyskiba, Rodion Miskevich, Vladislav Babkevich, Piotr Lazuko, Maksim Budyukhin.
“At the European Championship there are no weak teams, at least in our group. We play away with Hungary and Portugal. We know Norway from the previous qualifying event, they are also quite an even team. Portugal is no doubt a leader. Many athletes play in the French championship, the Polish championship. The championship of Portugal is quite strong as well,” said head coach Viktor Beksha.
The Belarusian men's team were through the qualifying round of the championship three times and made it to the final stage in 2013, 2015 and 2019.
The 2021 Men's European Volleyball Championship will take place in Poland, Finland, the Czech Republic and Estonia on 1-19 September. The tournament will feature 24 teams. In the preliminary stage, teams will be divided into four groups, the top 16 will qualify for the playoffs.
Poland, Finland, the Czech Republic and Estonia (as organizers) have already qualified for the final stage of the 2021 edition. The seeded teams are Serbia, Slovenia, Italy, Ukraine, France, Russia, Germany and Belgium. Latvia, Turkey, Bulgaria and Northern Macedonia have qualified as well.
