Both the Israeli men's and women's national volleyball teams will be in Sheffield, England, this weekend to get their World Championships qualification campaigns under way.
By JEREMY LASTvolleyball 88(photo credit: )
Both the Israeli men's and women's national volleyball teams will be in Sheffield, England, this weekend to get their World Championships qualification campaigns under way.
It won't be easy for the Israelis, who will need to finish on top of a first round tournament at the English Institute of Sport to advance to the next stage.
The men have been placed in a pool of three, alongside Great Britain and Belarus, while the women will play Great Britain, Montenegro and Portugal.
The winners of each pool will progress to the second round of matches to be played in Slovakia for the men and Azerbaijan for the women in May.
The aim is to make it to the 2010 World Championships, which will be held in Italy for the men and Japan for the women. Only 24 out of the 215 nations competing will make it through the three qualifying rounds.
Israel's men will begin on Friday afternoon with a game against the Brits before the women play Montenegro.
"I know the Brits have added a few players to their roster, including a nationalized Brazilian," said men's coach Avishai Karpovski, who has only got one video of the Brits to prepare from.
"They also have two players who play in Greece and another in Switzerland. I hope that despite the little information we have we can win."
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