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Estonia men aiming to follow in the footsteps of Serbia and Montenegro women

Rzeszow, Poland, July 13, 2005 – When the 2006 Men’s World Championship third round tournament – Europe Pool L starts on Friday in Rzeszow, Poland, the Estonia men’s team, ranked 49th in the world, will be aiming to replicate the outstanding feat achieved by the Serbia and Montenegro women’s side by reaching the finals after starting the tournament in the first round.

Serbia and Montenegro, who are ranked 28th in the world, stormed through three successive tournaments to reach the 2006 Women’s World Championship Final Round in Japan next year and Estonia are on the verge of doing the same in the men’s draw when they play hosts Poland (ranked eight in the world), Russia (4th) and Bulgaria (16th) in the three day tournament.
Pic: Home advantage for Poland will be huge
Having won their first round tournament on home soil in May, Estonia finished second behind Portugal in a second round tournament later that month to set up a third round date this weekend.

However, it definitely won’t be an easy task with Poland, who traditionally have incredible home support, and Bulgaria having just finished fourth and fifth in the 2005 World League respectively, while Russia are the 2002 World Championship silver medalists.

Bulgaria advanced to Poland by winning a second round tournament at home in May, while Russia and Poland have been automatically seeded into this third round tournament.

Pool L is the first of four European third round tournaments being played this month and since Europe has nine vacancies in the final round in Japan, the top two sides from each tournament will claim final round tickets. The third placed side in each tournament will enter a four-way play-off for one remaining ticket.

The first match in Poland between Estonia and Poland starts at 19:00 local time (17:00 GMT) followed by Bulgaria playing Russia at 21:00 (19:00 GMT).