Lausanne, Switzerland, May 24, 2017 - All the top favourites opened their campaigns for qualification to the 2018 FIVB Men's World Championship with wins Wednesday, as European qualifiers got underway with a total of 18 matches across six pools all over the continent.
Bronze medallists of the last edition of teh competition in 2014 Germany, reigning FIVB World League champions Serbia, reigning European champions France and London 2012 Olympic champions Russia were amongst the powerhouses who produced a show of power with straight-set wins as the road to Italy/Bulgaria 2018 began in earnest.
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Germany heading to showdown with France
With Gyorgy Grozer back in action and scoring 13 points (12/20 for 60% in attack) Germany destroyed Ukraine 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-19) as coach Andrea Giani made his debut on the team's bench in Pool A in Lyon.
And pool hosts France followed up in Lyon with a thundering win 3-0 (25-8, 25-8, 25-14) over Small Countries Division Iceland, even with a completely reserve lineup after the first set.
Turkey completed the day in Lyon with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-13) sweep of Azerbaijan.
Iceland put up a triple block to try and block France's Trevor Clevenot in Lyon.
Abdel-Azis keeps The Netherlands on track
The Netherlands, World Championship silver medallists in 1994 in Piraeus, doubled their wins in Pool B at De Koog, thrashing Moldova 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-16) in their quest to return to the competition for the first time since 2002. Nimir Abdel-Aziz led the Dutch offence with 21 points and an incredible attacking efficiency of 95%, getting 20 kills in 21 swings.
Greece, meanwhile, remained alive ahead of Thursday's critical match against The Netherlands, after outlasting Austria in five dramatic sets 3-2 (26-24, 27-25, 16-25, 23-25, 15-13), as the 2017 FIVB World League debutantes next week came back from two sets down to force a tie-break. Captain Mitar Djuric once again with 28 points led Greece.
In other action in De Koog Small Countries Division champions Luxembourg once more proved they're worthy participants amongst the 'big boys' as they took Slovakia all the way despite their 3-0 (25-17, 27-25, 26-24) defeat.
Nimir Abdel-Aziz with an incredible performance hits over the Moldova block of Igor Didorciuc ad Pavel Cimili.
Slovenia, Belgium off on the right foot
In their first match under the guidance of coach Slobodan Kovac, Slovenia continued in their winning ways that have made them the sensation of the past couple of years, downing Georgia 3-0 (25-12, 25-11, 25-12) at home in Ljubljana for Pool C - even as they relied mostly on reserves for most of the match.
With Sam Deroo and Gert Van Walle scoring 11 points each Belgium also got off to a great start in Ljubljana with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-16) thrashing of Portugal.
Israel scored an epic win over Latvia 3-2 (19-25, 25-20, 24-26, 25-22, 16-14) to wrap up the first day in the Slovenian capital.
Russia in show of power
Russia showed their might against Montenegro in Tallinn with a 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-18) win on coach Sergey Shlyapnikov's debut on the bench. Maxim Mikhailov socred 14 points (11/16 for 69% in attack) to lead Russia.
Hosts Estonia dropped a set to Romania, but managed to open their campaign with a win, 3-1 (25-15, 25-21, 22-25, 25-16) just a week ahead of their FIVB World League debut with Robert Taht and Oliver Venno scoring 20 points each, while Hungary downed newcomers Kosovo 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-9).
Sergey Shlyapnikov gives instruction to his players in his debut as Russia head coach.
Serbia take first step to qualifying ticket
After crashing out of last year's Olympic qualifiers, Serbia are back with a vengeance in the World Championship qualifiers, defeating Belarus 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-15) for Pool E in Zagreb on the back of 14 points by Drazen Luburic (subbed out by Aleksandar Atanasijevic after two sets) and 13 by Uros Kovacevic.
Pool hosts Croatia just managed to stay in the race after a 3-1 (25-23, 22-25, 25-19, 25-15) win over Norway and Switzerland stunned Denmark 3-1 (25-23, 19-25, 25-20, 25-18) in other action in the capital of Croatia.
Finns and Czechs take early advantage
Finland, the sensation of the last World Championship in 2014, and the Czech Republic scored comfortable wins in Pool F in Karlovi Vary - both over Small Countries Division sides.
With 10 points each from Antti Siltala and Olli-Pekka Ojansivu Finland thrashed Cyprus 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-21) serving 11 aces to none.
The pool hosts, meanwhile, destroyed Northern Ireland 3-0 (25-16, 25-7, 25-6) in just an hour, with coach Miguel Angel Falasca switching to his reserves after the first set.
Spain also theoretically remained in contention, after a late night 3-2 (25-19, 22-25, 21-25, 25-16, 15-12) thriller over Sweden, despite the latter producing the top scorer of the game in Fredrik Gustavsson with 27 points.
Sweden's Fredrik Gustavsson just manages to get the ball past the block of Spain's Sergio Noda in the late night thriller in Karlovy Vary.
The top team of each pool qualifies to the 2018 World Championship, which will be jointly organised by Italy and Bulgaria. The six second-ranked teams advance to Round III of the continental qualifiers for one more ticket to the World Championship.
Italy and Bulgaria as organisers, Poland as defending champions and Brazil as 2015 South American champions have already secured their participation in the 2018 World Championship.
Full statistics, pictures and reports on the
European Volleyball Confederation website.