Coach Andrea Giani’s players will try to make good resulty at the first tournament in Ljubljana in order to make it to the final tournament, which is to be played in July in Germany. At first glance it may seem that the teams arriving in Ljubljana are nothing more than exotic, but all three boast notable achievements.
Venezuela played very well at the World Championship in Poland two years ago. It also played at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and has nine silver and twelve bronze medals from strong South American championships.

Qatar’s volleyball team is mostly made up of players from abroad, mainly Brazilians and Serbians. At last year’s Asian Volleyball Championship Qatar finished fourth.

The Tunisians are eight-time African champions and have already taken part in six Olympic Games. Two years ago they also played at the World Championships. Tunisia has won medals at every African Championship to date, with the exception of 2009.

Slovenian coach Andrea Giani realizes that his players will have difficult matches to play: "They’re all good teams which will want to prove themselves against us. We are no longer the insignificant team we were before our success last year. We are the European vice-champions and that’s how we’ll have to approach the matches. We have a great responsibility now and it really doesn’t matter how much we’ve practiced. What’s important is what we show on the court. Above all else we have to show team spirit. We respect all three of our opponents, but we want to prove that last year’s success was not a coincidence, but a result of the good work and potential Slovenia has."

Slovenia’s volleyball players, which won the silver medal at last year’s European Championship, have set a clear goal for this year. From the third quality-ranked group, where it ended up after winning the European League, Slovenia wishes to advance to the second quality-ranked group in its very first attempt.

T. O.