In the end, Slovenia secured a clear victory over Finland.
The Finnish national volleyball team is on a losing streak of seven matches. Before the Olympic qualifiers, Finland played in the European Championships, where they lost their last four games. Stock photo. Elmeri Elo / AOP
The Finnish men’s national volleyball team lost to Slovenia 3–1 in the Olympic qualifying tournament played in Japan.
Finland lost the opening set 19–25, but answered the call and took the second set 25–18. After this, Slovenia pushed for a clear victory in the end. The last two sets went to Slovenia 25–20 and 25–18.
The opposition was strong again, as Slovenia is ranked sixth in the world. The country won bronze at the European Championships in September. In the European Championships, Slovenia did not give Finland a single set.
Finland has now played three tough matches in the qualifying tournament and lost each of them. In the opening match of the tournament, Japan was better with a score of 3–2, after which the USA beat Finland 3–0.
USA is second in the world ranking and Japan is fifth. Finland is ranked 29th.
The best two from the eight-country qualifying tournament qualify for the Paris Olympics. Finland will struggle in the qualifying tournament with these prospects for individual victories.
Chosen as coach of the year 2021 at the sports gala Tuomas Sammelvuo has led Canada to two wins in as many matches in qualifying group C. The wins came from important countries, as Canada knocked off the Netherlands and Argentina. Another team that started the C group with a clean game is Poland, the number one country in the world ranking.