Sammelvuo introduced to Finnish Volleyball Hall of Fame

Before the opening match of the men's 2021 CEV Volleyballl European Championship between Finland and North Macedonia, the organizers of the event held an official ceremony to introduce several new members of the Finnish Volleyball Hall of Fame to the spectators.

Volleyball player Saara Esko, renowned international referee Jarmo Salonen, former president of Finland Mauno Koivisto (posthumously), as well as Seppo and Tuomas Sammelvuo, were the five inductees.

Tuomas Sammelvuo played for the Finnish national team for 17 years (1993 - 2010) and collected 296 caps, the third highest in the history of Finnish volleyball. Moreover, he became the first Finn to win an Olympic medal in volleyball, Tokyo 2020 silver as the head coach of the team of the Russian Olympic Committee.

Seppo Sammelvuo, Tuomas’s father, was the head of the national volleyball federation of Finland for 10 years.

"For sure, first of all, I am very happy for my father. He didn’t know I’d be here. It was a surprise for him," the 45-year-old head coach of the Volleyball Federation of Russia said. "My father did a lot for developing Finnish volleyball. He led the federation for 10 years. And we have not seen each other for a long time, so it was really nice. He will spend some time here and will watch our game. It is a real pleasure to be introduced to the Hall of Fame but it is even more valuable to be there together with my father."