Lausanne, Switzerland, March 2, 2019 - Tuomas Sammelvuo has been appointed head coach of Russia's National Team ahead of the sides obligations this year in the FIVB Volleyball Nations League and other upcoming international and continental events, the All-Russia Volleyball Federation has announced.
The 43-year-old Finn has been head coach of Finland since 2013 and has also been leading the club of Kuzbass Kemerovo in the Russian Superleague in the last three years.
Alongside Sammelvuo, Slobodan Kovac of Serbia and Lorenzo Bernardi of Italy had also been considered by a special committee set up by the Russian Federation for the evaluation of coaches to fill the position left vacant when Sergey Shlyapnikov was put in charge of Russia's preparation programme leading to the 2022 FIVB World Championship.
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"The decision of the Presidium was influenced by how well the Finnish specialist has been performing with Kuzbass Kemerovo, as well as his decency and devotion to volleyball," said Russian Federation president Stanislav Shevchenko. "Let us not forget that Sammelvuo is familiar with the realities of our volleyball also as a player."
Former and new coaches of Russia's men's National Team, Sergey Shlyapnikov and Tuomas Sammelvuo (as coach of Finland) exchange pins when they met at the 2018 FIVB World Championship.
Amongst other clubs in Finland, France, Italy and briefly in Poland, Sammelvuo has also competed in Russia's Superleague for Dinamo Kaliningrad and later Lokomotiv Novosibirsk where he completed his playing career in 2013.
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FIVB.com - Volleyball Nations League
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