Home party for Turkey's girls and more than 4,000 fans

It was the night everyone had dreamed of since weeks here in Turkey, with a group of young girls – mostly training at the Volleyball school founded only a couple of years ago by the local Federation – writing history for this country and claiming the first gold medal in history and in any age group. Turkey played the perfect game tonight in front of more than 4,000 fans at the “Baskent” sports hall and did not leave any chance to the Italians of Caterina Bosetti. Bronze went to Serbia that needed four sets to cruise past Germany and add some more glory to the many international achievements obtained by this country in recent international competitions, including the gold medal claimed only two weeks ago by the boys here in Ankara.

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Final standings

1. Turkey
2. Italy
3. Serbia
4. Germany
5. Poland
6. Slovakia
7. Spain
8. Greece
9. Slovenia
10. Belgium
11. Czech Republic
12. Ukraine

The top six are qualified for the 2011 FIVB Girls’ Youth World Championship; the teams ranked from 1 to 8 will also compete at the European Youth Olympic Festival scheduled for next July 23-29 in Trabzon, Turkey.

Individual Awards

MVP: Ece Hocaoglu (TUR)
Best Blocker: Mina Popovic (SRB)
Best Libero: Dilara Bagci (TUR)
Best Receiver: Caterina Bosetti (ITA)
Best Scorer: Jennifer Geerties (GER)
Best Server: Seyma Ercan (TUR)
Best Setter: Chiara Scacchetti (ITA)
Best Spiker: Elena Perinelli (ITA)

Final match

Turkey vs. Italy 3:0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-19)