For this Olympic cycle, the International Volleyball Federation innovated with a global ranking system, which consists of two instances: the pre-Olympic and the world ranking. It will then be a demanding challenge for some National Teams, who in previous years had continental chances.
The 24 participating teams are placed in three groups of eight. These octagonal windows, independent of each other, will give two places to Paris 2024 to the two best placed in each area, in a format of round-the-clock competition. There will be seven games in nine days.
Serbia, world champion, will travel to China for Group A, where it stands out as one of the favorites. For family reasons, they will have to play without Bojana Drča, who was the starting point guard when Serbia won the World Championship last year. Another important absence is that of Maja Ognjenović, with health problems. The host team, China, seems to be the biggest challenge for Serbia. Players like Li Yingying, Gong Xiangyu and Yuan Xinyue led the team in a season that had them as finalists in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL). The Dominican Republic, the new champion of the Pan American Cup, is the other national team with aspirations to win the Olympic ticket in Group A.
The team of the moment in women’s volleyball is, without a doubt, and as indicated in the FIVB ranking, Turkey. Winners of the VNL and the European Championship, they seem to be the big favorites in Group B. Melissa Vargas, MVP of the 2023 VNL, will be present in Japan along with Ebrar Karakurt, Eda Erdem, Zehra Gunes and Hande Baladin. Japan will play at home and is hoping to get that extra push from fans for a chance to beat favorites Turkey and Brazil. The runner-up Olympic champions, led by Gabi Guimaraes and Rosamaria Montibeller, will try to live up to the history of Brazilian volleyball to win one of the two places.
The great story of Group C, which is being played in Poland, is the return of Tokyo 2020 MVP, Jordan Larson. The 36-year-old, who recently participated in the Pan American Cup, had taken a break from competing with her national team, since her title in the Japanese capital in 2021. The U.S. list includes eight of the Olympic champion squad, including Micha Hancock, Haleigh Washington, Kelsey Robinson and Jordan Thompson. Italy and local Poland hope to fight the Americans for Olympic tickets. The Poles arrive at a time of great growth with the bronze medal in the VNL and, in addition, they recover their captain Joanna Wolosz. The Italians are once again doing without their big star, Paola Egonu, who had not been called up by the coach for the VNL either. Also in Group C, the dream of the Thai women appeared, who won the title in the Asian Championship for the first time in ten years.
Once these three qualifying events are over, seven countries will be insured in Paris 2024. The six selected winners of next week’s Olympic Qualifiers will join France, host of the next Games.
The remaining five Olympic places will be decided using the FIVB ranking in June 2024, giving priority to countries on continents that do not yet have teams qualified for the Olympic tournament, which will be held at the South Paris Arena 1.
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