After skipping the 2017 FIVB World League, 4 players who were part of Russia’s gold medal winning squad at the 2012 Olympics have rejoined the team for the upcoming European Champs which starts this Thursday.
Alexander Butko, Sergey Grankin, Yury Berezhko and Maxim Mikhaylov are expected to lead the team after a series of lackluster performances within the last 4 years. The last time Russia won the European Championship was in 2013. Russia has NOT won any major FIVB tourney since 2012.
Final Roster:
Setters:
Aleksandr Butko
Sergey Grankin
Opposite Hitters:
Maxim Mikhaylov
Maxim Zhigalov
Middle Blockers:
Andrey Aschev
Iliya Vlasov
Artyem Volvich
Iliyas Kurkaev
Outside Hitters:
Yury Berezhko
Dmitriy Volkov
Egor Kliyuka
Egor Feoktistov
Liberos:
Valentin Golubev
Roman Martinyuk
Russia is in Pool C together with Bulgaria, Slovenia and Spain.