Great Britain slip to volleyball defeats in Sheffield

Posted: Saturday 3rd January 2009 | 11:05

GREAT Britain's women lost a five-set thriller to Portugal in their opening match of the World Championship qualifiers in Sheffield.

Portugal's Ana Paulo starred as the home side - who had to save a match point in the fourth set - finally slipped up in the decider, going down 22-25, 27-25, 25-18, 25-27, 15-9.

"This was our first experience of playing a competitive match in front of a crowd and with all the pressure involved since we played Albania in the European Championships last May," said British coach Lorne Sawula.

"We need more experience of such matches but my players have been working their tails off to prepare for this sort of challenges."

There was also disappointment for Great Britain's men - who lost 25-14, 21-25, 25-22, 25-14 to Israel in their tournament opener.

And captain Ben Pipes was not happy with the performance - insisting they must lift their game ahead of tomorrow's clash with Belarus.

He said: "We did not play so well but we did enough to win the match and we know we now face a strong team in Belarus. But I hope we can find our focus."

Israel's men completed a satisfying opening day by beating Montenegro in convincing fashion 25-18, 25-15, 25-11.

Meanwhile, British Volleyball president Richard Callicott has built up the pressure on his sides ahead of this weekend's matches by insisting they must show their worth at this tournament to secure critical Olympic funding.

UK Sport - which made a round of funding awards last month - have delayed their decision on the amount to be received by volleyball until early in the New Year.

"We have no indication of the level of funding we will receive and what that level will be. As a result this leaves the sport in limbo with regard to implementing the next stages of development," said Caldicott.

"However, we are still fully committed to the goals we have set. We have hit and surpassed our performance targets to date and we will continue to improve and meet challenges as we progress through to 2012.

"The commitment of our athletes, coaches, administration and support staff has been exceptional and has resulted in unprecedented developments for the sport. We have no indication as to why we have not received a funding decision at this point.

"No performance rationale has been provided so we are perplexed as to why some sports have been given an answer and volleyball's decision has been deferred."