Perfect Turkish women book ticket to Paris

TOKYO

Turkish women’s volleyball national team has finished atop its group in Japan to book its ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Türkiye beat Belgium 25-14, 25-20, 25-21 on Sept. 24 to maintain its perfect run in the qualifying tournament and extend its winning streak to 22 games.

The women, dubbed “Sultans of the Net,” have won the Nations League trophy and were crowned the European champions during the streak.

"We had a really perfect summer that Türkiye has been waiting for,” said experienced player Gizem Örge.

“I want to thank everybody. We are very happy that we got the ticket to the Olympics, wait for us, Paris."

Simge Aköz was delighted to be the part of a team that will be at the Olympics for a second time.

“It's an incredible feeling,” she said.

“Playing the European Championships and the Olympic qualifiers back-to-back was very difficult for us, we are very happy that we completed them successfully.”

It will be the third time Türkiye competes at the Olympic Games. At its debut at London 2012, the team stopped short of making the quarterfinals, but progressed to the last eight two years ago, at Tokyo 2020.

Coach Daniele Santarelli, who took over the team at the beginning of the year, was delighted with the progress so far.

"We had three goals for the season and we have achieved all of them,” said the Italian.

“It was a busy, and a really great summer.”