CCB

For me the Israel team is favorit to win the Olympic berth, however, they are struggling against Sweden (3-3 in the 9th inning). Netherlands miss their best players, otherwise they had a big chance to qualify.

Pakistan will be a very, very tricky opponent for The Netherlands. A play-off against Malaysia, France, Ireland or Korea would be easier. Only reason Pakistan is in pot 4 is that they withdrew from the Pro League. Don't like this format at all.

Hassan won the 5k today, but said she won't race the 5k in Doha. She chooses the 1.500 and 10k. Strange decision, in my opinion 5k gives her the best chance for a gold medal.

8 service-errors from The Netherlands in their first set against Turkey Turkey plays - as expected - much better than our team. Hopefully the Dutch can things turn around before the Olympic Qualifying Tournament starts.

Pretty decent results for the Dutch fleet. Unfortunately the Men's Eight didn't make it to the final yet. Dutch Row Association wants at least 8 teams in Tokio. I presume they want a team in the M1x, M2x, M4x, M8, LW2x, W2x, W4x, W4-. Will be difficult, because the Dutch standards are higher than the IOC standards. For example, Dutch boats only qualifies when they are in the final. For IOC top 8/9 or top 11 is enough to qualify.

And Belgium , finalist two years ago, is out! They lost against Spain and ended third in the poule, behind The Netherlands. After the surprisedraw against they really thought they closed the gap with the world elite, but four days later they are in the playdown matches at this European Championships.

Oh yes, I really will cheer for Bulgaria tonight!!! Europe deserves having at least 5 teams at the Olympics.

Last year I was impressed by Slovenia, but I think there's no real favorite. I presume Netherlands and Belgium have the smallest chances.

According to the well informed WorldofVolley the European qualifier for women definitely takes place in ..... Istanbul . Not a great surprise, Dutch federation doesn't want to spend money again.

Final tournament for European teams in Germany (Berlin): or What a line up

But Netherlands did a very good job. Unfortunately the didn't surprise with an Olympic ticket, which was actually not so far away (they led by a 3 points margin in the 4th set).

Oh no, I'm not from Friesland, so no fierljeppen or skutsjesilen for me. You became national champion fierljeppen @heywoodu? :-)

Congrats Italy! Very deserved win and hopefully a gold medal next year ... Egonu is outstanding!!! Very sad about the Dutch performance today, hopefully Sloetjes will find her shape back for the European Qualifier in January (Turkey).

Thanks for the positive vibes!! Hahahahaha. We need this positive vibe right now, because Italy won the first set

Yes, still possible, but not a lot of confidence in a Dutch win tonight. Italy will be too strong for us. And Serbia in trouble against Poland .....

Hopefully Korea can recover from this third set, because Russia doesn't deserve to be in the Olympics again.

Oh no Korea, losing 7 points in a row ... how is this possible???

Indeed, Italy/Netherlands is important, but Italy/Netherlands and Turkey are way better than the Russian team. So only three European teams at the OG: Serbia, Italy and - most likely - Turkey.

Most easy group is for Russia. Russia isn't that good anymore, but because of the money they are still higher at the World Rankings. In all major competitions from August 2016 (Olympic Games, European Championships, World Championships and all Grand Prix/Nation Leagues) the team of The Netherlands ranked higher ... how is it still possible that Russia is higher on the World Rankings and has such an easy group? They must have paid for keeping their World Cup Results from 2015 ... otherwise they should have big trouble to qualify for the 2020 Olympics.

How is this possible? Really ITA, NED, ESP and ISR in the same group? Those four countries are - by far - the best teams in Europe!

Hopefully Italy will win the quota, they are way better then GB for years, so it would feel unjustified when GB grabs the spot.

How do you mean "always award this kind of tournaments to the Dutch federation"? Last softball Olympic qualifier in 2007 was in Italy, and the baseball qualifier is in Italy as well ...

Oh yes, they will!!

I think so too. Too many runs against (5). Did GB have different players than at the Europeans last month?

Dutch team is very weak suddenly. Too bad, because they were the best European team in the past years. A loss today means GB and Italy will play for the Olympic quota.