Serbia and Bulgaria will fight for the championship title of U17 Balkan Championship in Vranje, while for the bronze medal battle is scheduled between Türkiye and Romania. Before final and bronze medal matches, for 5th place Bosna and Herzegovina will play against North Macedonia.
In the first match of the day, North Macedonia beat Moldova 3:0 (25:20, 25:14, 25:21). In Macedonian team Eva Trpenovska won 13 points, and in team of Moldova Saliuta had 9 points.
Bulgaria defeated Türkiye in first semifinals after great match and five sets – 3:2 (26:24, 19:25, 23:25, 25:18, 15:10). Top scorer was Iva Dudova in Bulgarian team with 23 points, while Nisan Eroguz won 13 points on the other side.
In second semifinal, Serbia celebrated easy win against Romania 3:0 (25:13, 25:14, 25:15). Ana Mihajlovic and Milica Vidacic led Serbia to big final with 13 points. Antonia Dora Gheti and Elena Timeea Mateiu won 7 points in team Romania.
Match schedule for Sunday, 10th July
5th place: North Macedonia – Bosnia and Herzegovina – (15:00h)
Bronze medal: Türkiye – Romania (17:30h)
Final: Bulgaria – Serbia (20:00h)
The most appropriate person to speak about this programme certainly is Project Manager Dragisa Calov. “The project started in November 2021, with the official support of the CEV, and the Ministries of Education and Sports. We owe special gratitude to the Ministry of Education, as they made it possible for us to schedule training sessions in the sports halls of their schools. The project has involved 13 primary schools from eight cities this far: Pljevlja, Zabljak, Mojkovac, Kolasin, Bijelo Polje, Berane, Rozaje and Niksic, with participation of some 250 young boys aged 11-14. The Volleyball school is free for all boys,” says Calov.
The most important thing – the project will continue, with certain novelties and improvements. Before it re-starts, the project leader will visit additional towns to involve. “The project continues with the beginning of the new school year. We are currently working on a plan for next year, as we wish to organise a competition between schools involved in the project. In cooperation with the Coaches’ Association, we plan to hold several seminars for teachers. We are preparing a new set of exercises that will supplement the first edition of the manual, as well as a video presentation on technical elements of the Volleyball game. At the beginning of August, we are going to visit some cities in order to initiate the launch of clubs in certain areas,” concludes Calov.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions and other measures introduced in Montenegro, the “Mini volleyball’ section of the School Project had to stop for two years, but in October 2022 the Volleyball Federation of Montenegro will hopefully resume its implementation. They managed to involve more than 700 children and more than 40 schools and clubs before the break imposed by the pandemic.