Belgium’s Road To Rio is over.
Their men’s and women’s team failed to make it to the Semifinal Round in the ongoing European Olympic Qualification Tournament. With this result, Belgium must now prepare for the 2020 Olympics. It may be a long journey from here on now but the future looks bright for the young Belgian squad.
One of Belgium’s volleyball superstars has posted this pic on Instagram:
Middle blocker from the men’s team Pieter Verhees remains optimistic.
“This is the end of our Olympic dream and we now have to wait for another four years. However, we can be positive as we are still young and we have time to grow. It still feels sad to realize you have to wait for another four years to be given that same chance again.”
Belgium is among one of the teams that gave the volleyball world surprising and inspiring results. The women’s team won the bronze medal at the 2013 European Championship and paved way for some of their players to be nationally and internationally recognized.
As for the men’s team, their best results in the last 4 years would have to be playing in the 2014 and 2015 FIVB World League and winning the 2013 European League.
From middle blocker Freya:
That was it. Back to Belgium. Our 'Road To Rio'-story ends here. Thank y'all for the big support! #bounceback #yellowtigers #asone
— Freya Aelbrecht (@FreyaAelbrecht) January 8, 2016
(images: cev.lu)