Italy Advances To London

Italy survived an epic 5 set match against Germany to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics!

Congratulations to Savani, Travica, Zaytsev, Mastrangelo, Lasko and Team Italy for winning the Olympic ticket and represent Europe together with Russia and Poland in London. Even before the tourney started, Coach Berruto’s squad was the top favorite to win the title.

(images: FIPAV)

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Complete Coverage of the 2012 Men’s European Olympic Qualification Tournament from May 8th– May 13th, 2012 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Competing Teams: Serbia, Italy, Slovenia, Spain, Germany, Slovakia, Finland and Bulgaria (host)

Who do you think will WIN this tournament and qualify for the 2012 Olympics?

Pool A:

Bulgaria
Spain
Serbia
Slovenia

Pool B:

Germany
Slovakia
Italy
Finland

Schedule & Results:

May 8th:

Bulgaria 3–0 Slovenia (25–23, 25–18, 25–22)
Germany 3–0 Slovakia (25–19, 25–22, 25–20)
Finland 2–3 Italy (21–25, 25–16, 28–30, 25–16, 14–16)

May 9th:

Slovenia 0–3 Spain (17–25, 23–25, 18–25)
Serbia 0–3 Bulgaria (22–25, 16–25, 23–25)
Finland 1–3 Germany (29–31, 19–25, 25–21, 16–25)

May 10th:

Italy 3-0 Germany (25-22, 25-21, 25-22)
Slovakia 3–1 Finland (25–20, 25–16, 21–25, 25–19)
Spain 1-3 Serbia (19-25, 17-25, 25-23, 22-25)

May 11th:

Italy 3-0 Slovakia (25-23, 25-13, 25-22)
Bulgaria 3-0 Spain 25-16, 25-20, 25-16)
Serbia 3-1 Slovenia (22-25, 25-18, 27-25, 25-15)

May 12th: Semifinals

Germany 3-1 Bulgaria (25-22, 20-25, 25-22, 25-16)
Italy 3-1 Serbia (25-14, 25-19, 19-25, 25-16)

May 13th: Gold Medal Match

Italy 3-2 Germany (25-22/ 26-24/ 19-25/ 22-25/ 15-12)

VIDEOS:

Click HERE to WATCH Germany vs Slovakia

Click HERE to WATCH Finland vs Italy

Click HERE to WATCH Bulgaria vs Slovenia

Click HERE to WATCH Germany vs Finland

Click HERE to WATCH Spain vs Slovenia

Click HERE to WATCH Serbia vs Bulgaria

Click HERE to WATCH Slovakia vs Finland

Click HERE to WATCH Serbia vs Spain

Click HERE to WATCH Italy vs Germany

Click HERE to WATCH Slovakia vs Finland

Click HERE to WATCH Bulgaria vs Spain

Click HERE to WATCH Slovenia vs Serbia

Click HERE to WATCH Slovakia vs Italy

Click HERE to WATCH Spain vs Bulgaria

Semifinals

Click HERE to WATCH Italy vs Serbia

Click HERE to WATCH Germany vs Bulgaria

Final Match

Click HERE to WATCH Italy vs Germany

Click HERE to view more pics!

(images: cev.lu)