Bosnia and Herzegovina win men’s European title

The London 2012 men’s sitting volleyball champions also successfully defended their regional title. 09 Oct 2015
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The team of Bosnia and Herzegovina celebrates after winning the gold in the Men's Sitting Volleyball competition at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

The team of Bosnia and Herzegovina celebrates after winning the gold in the Men's Sitting Volleyball competition at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

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By World ParaVolley and National Paralympic Committee Germany

Reigning world and Paralympic champions Bosnia and Herzegovina defeated host nation Germany 3-0 to claim the men’s European Championship title in sitting volleyball on Wednesday (7 October) in Warendorf.

Despite winning in straight sets, Bosnia and Herzegovina managed to win by at least three points in two of the sets, 25-22, 25-19, 25-23. They had already qualified for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games following their win at the 2014 World Championships. With that, Germany also earned a qualification spot at Rio 2016.

"We would have liked to win a set, even for the phenomenal audience,” Germany's captain Heiko Wiesenthal said. “However, the well-rehearsed Bosnians were clever in the decisive phases and deserved to win. To conquer the world champion and Paralympics winners, would have been a dream. But even so it was a fitting conclusion, even in this amazing arena.

The bronze medal match featured a tight contest between Russia and Ukraine, with the Russians squeezing out the 18-25, 25-16, 25-27, 25-18, 15-8 victory.

Final rankings

1 Bosnia & Herzegovina

2 Germany

3 Russia

4 Ukraine

5 Netherlands

6 Poland

7 Azerbaijan

8 Croatia

9 Serbia

10 Hungary

11 Latvia

12 Italy

Complete results from the men’s sitting volleyball European Championships, visit the National Paralympic Committee’s website.