Volleyball Spartakiad 2022 was held in Russia: the team played without legionnaires, the team from Kazan took the gold
A week before the start of the 2022 World Volleyball Championship in Slovenia and Poland, Russia hosted its own tournament – the Spartakiad. It has become a kind of alternative to the holiday incident, however, it is not known whether it was intentional or not, it has avoided the scale and pathos that accompanies the world forum. They tried it modestly, for themselves. Rather, to work out the preseason in racing mode, and not loudly “answer” the suspension.
The organizers, in a sense, recreated the Soviet Spartakiad. Regions work in the tournament, but in reality they are casts of Superleague clubs: Zenit Kazan became the Republic of Tatarstan for a week, Dynamo became the Moscow Region. At the same time, in Russia, the work of clubs without foreign players was protested – there are less and less foreigners in our volleyball every month.
Peter was crippled by injury. Moscow barely got into the prizes
The competition lasted 11 days and ended on August 21, but the fans almost missed the main match of the tournament: the final was forgotten on the federal channel: instead of the first set, the fans watched freestyle addiction.
And if that was the only miss…
Yes, the Spartakiad did not pass without one problem: at the group stage in Odintsovo they called with a static camera, there were no commentators, and the audience practically did not come to the stands – then only not fans, but functionaries of the “teams”. At the same time, the stages in Novosibirsk, Kazan and Moscow were held at the proper level, because most of the organization was taken over by the clubs, despite the fact that the Spartakiad is the concern of the Ministry of Sports.
The Republic of Tatarstan and St. Petersburg (read – Zenit-Kazan and Zenit – St. Petersburg) fought for gold, while Moscow and Belgorod (Dynamo and Belogorye) played for bronze. The miracle didn’t happen. In pairs, the winners were determined tritely – 3:0 in each class of the match with a complete lack of intrigue. After a series of transfers, the Belgorod team clearly hadn’t met yet and didn’t look their best on the championship field of the Dynamo backbone, and the St. Petersburg team lost a key attacking player: literally in the pre-match warm-up, Zenit’s player Yegor Klyuka relapsed – back problems.
The extreme attack of St. Petersburg was successfully covered by Viktor Poletaev, but insurance was not found. In the final game, there was a completely green 21-year-old Vadim Syropyatov, who had not yet had time to make his debut even in the Super League – he was pulled out of the farm club. The experienced Fyodor Voronkov had already forgotten how to hammer, and Ivan Yakovlev’s first pace was not always trusted. Obviously, everyone was crippled by fatigue. Four teams offered seven games in a few days, participants in the medal matches – eight in 11! Clubs have previously said that volleyball players because of the serious frequency of detection of microtraumas. So the format of the tournament needs to be changed if you want to make it regular.
player of the national team of Tatarstan, who won first place at the Spartakiad
Photo: RIA Novosti
Kazan and Moscow did not allow intrigue to arise, but the team was very charged with the game: leadership missed big volleyball and regretted that this year they would not have a chance to fight at the World Cup, and the youth had something to prove in the absence of foreign players.
Foreigners play without Russia. Russia – without foreigners
It should be especially noted that according to the regulations of the Spartakiad, foreign volleyball players could not play for the team. Would presence affect the result? Maybe. The same Dynamo was going to fight for gold, not for bronze. They were Tsvetana Sokolova and Lauri Kerminen, who recently left the Finnish national team for playing in the Super League. The rest of the teams suffered damage in the attack: the Pole Bartosz Bednozh left the Kazan Zenit, the Canadian John Gordon Perrin left the Lokomotiv, and the Slovenian Tine Urnaut left the St. Petersburg Zenit, as well as Nemanja Petrich – Belogorye.
It is not yet known how other star foreigners behave: Russian Frenchman Zhenya Grebennikov and American Mike Christenson. Perhaps they will be squeezed out of Russia after the 2022 World Cup. Therefore, the Spartakiad took place in the first place to check their own and, in which case, find a replacement. The Superleague has always been built on the power of the Russians, but it has been on the right balance, including foreign tops in the game. Boiling in your own juice means not taking it.
Part of the problem of the club championship in the new conditions will be a large assembly of the farm club team, but the lack of international experience and any contact with foreign players will also affect the team. Olympic champion Taras Khtey has already predicted that the national team can easily survive five years of suspension, but no more.
“If we talk, for example, about a five-year suspension, then I don’t think that it will affect us in a negative way. But if there are ten roles or more, then, probably, there may still be problems. Generations are gradually disappearing from the Russian national team, run-in guys – as they say, blood and milk. In five years, many of them will still be in service, and, of course, when they return to the international level, they will not be confused. At the same time, one cannot but agree that in ten years the lack of experience in the new generation will be felt very strongly. But I hope it doesn’t come to that.”
player of the Moscow national team, who took third place at the Spartakiad-2022
Photo: RIA Novosti
Therefore, young people are also looking for ways to meet with this contact: the best diagonal World Cup under 21 and Loko player Maxim Sapozhkov will play in Verona. As you know, the Italian Superliga is now making trends.
And, I believe, such transfers are the only targeted way to stay away from the authorities in the context of the cancellation of almost all Russian sports.
The Russian team will play. And believe in Olympic prospects
In a few years, young people should successfully integrate into the model of the Russian team, which is not going to give up its position. The new head coach of the team, Konstantin Bryansky, has already called 25 volleyball players to the training camp in Novogorsk, which dragged on for a month – from August 24 to September 21. During this time, the national team holds a tournament or will play a series of test matches.
Dynamo Moscow has the largest representation in the national team – eight players. Four volleyball players each from Kazan and St. Petersburg Zenit, as well as from Lokomotiv. The team believes in Olympic prospects.
“The upcoming camp is very necessary for the team. We are starting serious work with an eye on the 2024 Olympics.
The best athletes of the country should get together, train, unite. It motivates to achieve,” said Konstantin Bryansky. – Regarding the composition of the team: it was mainly formed based on the results of the Russian Championship – 2021/2022, but was adjusted after the starting three rounds of the Spartakiad. This event influenced the quality of today’s game of those volleyball players who drew attention to the national team. And along the way, the Spartakiad reveals special places for the best players, and we have to seriously work for their participation.