SPORTS
Men's Volleyball quarter-finals confirmed
Baku, June 23, AZERTAC
The draw for the men's Volleyball quarter-finals took place on Tuesday morning.
Teams that finished in first and fourth positions in each pool already had their opponents determined as per competition rules.
All the matches will be played on Wednesday 24 June: Poland v Slovakia (13:00), Turkey v Bulgaria (15:00), Serbia v Germany (19:00), France v Russia (21:00).
The winner of Poland v Slovakia will play the winner of Turkey v Bulgaria. The winner of Serbia v Germany will play the winner of France v Russia. The semi-finals will take place on Friday 26 June.
Turkey had edged out Azerbaijan in a five-set men's Volleyball thriller in the penultimate of the pool games, on Monday night.
Azerbaijanis put in a spirited performance and were cheered on loudly, but the quality of Turkey eventually proved too much.
Turkey raced into a two set lead (25-18, 25-17) before a series of errors allowed Azerbaijan back into the game, winning the third set 25-22 and the fourth 25-21.
Both teams squandered match points in the fifth before Turkey finally triumphed 20-18. The two teams linked arms to salute the crowd side-by-side following the game.
The win sealed Turkey’s third place finish in Pool A. Poland topped the pool ahead of France, with Serbia taking the fourth qualifying place.
In the evening's last game, Russia recorded their fourth win of the competition to lock up second place in Pool B.
They easily swept aside the Italians 25-17, 25-15 and 32-30 to advance to the quarter-finals.
Germany won Pool B with Bulgaria and Slovakia finishing third and fourth.
It was an especially disappointing tournament for Italy, who return home without winning a single of their five games.