14/06/2017 08:52
Most competitive field ever for 2017 Baden Masters!
2017 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Baden Masters
Baden, Austria, June 14, 2017. The starting field for the Baden Masters has never been as competitive and impressive as this year. A few days ago the CEV announced the recipients of two wild cards – one per gender – who will start the tournament straight from the Main Draw. The teams enjoying this privilege are Austria’s 2016 Olympian Robin Seidl together with his new partner Tobias Winter and rising star Teresa Strauss, who will be playing alongside Bianca Zass since her twin sister Nadine is currently injured. Additional Austrian teams in the Main Draw are Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst and Thomas Kunert/Christoph Dressler in the men’s competition as well as the women’s tandems of Stefanie Schwaiger/Katharina Schützenhöfer and Cornelia Rimser/Lena Plesiutschnig.
European teams are doing well on the FIVB World Tour right now with three of the top four from the men’s event held in early June in Moscow coming from Europe. Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin and Artem Yarzutkin/Oleg Stoyanovskiy as well as 2015 European champions Janis Smedins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs (pictured) of Latvia will all be playing in Baden. The Latvians are the top seeds in Baden after they finished fourth in Moscow a couple of weeks ago. Next on the entry lists are Poland’s Bartosz Losiak/Piotr Kantor followed by Spain’s Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera and Krasilnikov/Liamin, who won the silver medal at the FIVB event in Moscow. Belgium’s Dries Koekelkoren and Tom Van Walle will also start their campaign in Baden from the Main Draw. As for the qualification round, the top teams in there are Yarzutkin/Stoyanovskiy and the gold medallists from the Baku 2015 European Games, Martins Plavins and Haralds Regza of Latvia.
Stefanie Schwaiger/Katharina Schützenhöfer are the top Austrian team in the women’s competition and they expect a very difficult tournament, with top teams such as Chantal Laboureur/Julia Sude from Germany, Angela Lobato/Elsa Baquerizo from Spain and Nina Betschart/Tanja Hüberli from Switzerland all taking to the sand in Baden. Germany’s Victoria Bieneck/Isabel Schneider have shown in Moscow that they are a hard nut to crack as well but will have to start their journey from the Country Quota because of the depth in German women’s Beach Volleyball. Kristyna Kolocova/Michala Kvapilova (CZE), Valentyna Davidova/Ievgeniia Shchypkova (UKR) and three Austrian teams complete the eight tandems currently seeded in the Main Draw. The home teams will be trying their best to achieve a good result on home sand – with Stefanie Schwaiger dreaming of repeating what she did in 2014, when she clinched gold along with her sister Doris before the latter announced her retirement from competitive sport.
Teams from Austria and Norway will feature in the men’s Country Quota. As for Austria, these are Martin Ermacora/Moritz Pristauz, Xandi Huber, who plays with Julian Hörl due to an injury to his regular partner Lorenz Petutschnig and Florian Schnetzer/Daniel Müllner. Teams from Germany will have to contest the women’s Country Quota. Valerie Teufl/Katharina Almer from Austria will be vying for a spot in the Main Draw through the women’s qualification round.
Before it is time for the CEV Masters, this week Baden will be hosting the 2017 edition of the CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship with Moritz Pristauz and Paul Buchegger carrying the Austrian hopes of a medal on home soil.
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