Turkish Girls Volleyball Team in training for bumper year

The Turkey girls' team took time out from training to visit Ankara Zoo on Thursday

Ankara, Turkey The Turkey girls' team have spent the last two weeks training at home in Ankara as they step up their preparations for the 2011 CEV Youth European Championships as well as the 2011 FIVB Girls' Youth World Championship for which they qualified last year, after winning the right to host the tournament.

For the team's Brazilian coach, Marco Aurelio Motta, the task now is to whittle his squad down from 20 to a more manageable number of between 14 and 16 players. "I am very satisfied with the players here and I am happy to be with them," Motta said.

"We will be having friendly matches against Belgium, Italy and Germany before the European Championship." It has not been all work for the group, however, as they took time out from their training schedule to visit Ankara Zoo on Thursday.

The team will have the support of the home crowd at the European Championship which takes place in Ankara from April 30-May 8. They will then turn their focus to the FIVB Girls' Youth World Championship, also set to take place in Turkey. At the last edition in Thailand, Turkey finished fourth, narrowly missing out on a bronze medal following defeat by Belgium.