14/10/2017 17:57
Russian teams triumph with gold at Satellite in Baku
2017 CEV-EEVZA Beach Volleyball Satellite - Baku
Baku, Azerbaijan, October 14, 2017. The double-gender CEV-EEVZA Satellite in Baku finished on Saturday with all semi-final and final matches – and teams from Russia standing on top of the men’s and women’s podiums as well. Many fans found their way to the iconic Beach Arena, the venue that hosted the Beach Volleyball competition at the Baku 2015 European Games, for the last day of the tournament capping off the 2017 season. Interestingly, Maksim Khudyakov/Ruslan Bykanov and Maria Voronina/Mariia Bocharova netted the gold medals in Baku only six days after both teams had achieved the same feat at an EEVZA zonal event held in Batumi, Georgia.
Russia’s rising Beach Volleyball stars Maria Voronina and Mariia Bocharova had progressed to the semis with three straight victories. Their rivals for a ticket to the final were France’s Lézana Placette/Aline Chamereau. Voronina and Bocharova celebrated a dramatic 21-12, 16-21, 17-15 victory while in the other semi-final tournament favourites Alexia Richard/Margaux Carrere of France claimed an easy win in their matchup with Slovenia’s Tjasa Kotnik/Tjasa Jancar (21-12, 21-19).
The second seeds in the tournament, Richard and Carrere were hoping to travel home with the gold medal. They caught a promising start to the final, easily taking the first set 21-13. However, the course of the match changed quite dramatically as brilliant defence actions by the Russians helped Voronina and Bocharova cruise to a 2-1 victory (13-21, 21-14, 15-12). The bronze medal went to Kotnik/Jancar following their 2-0 victory (21-15, 22-20) over Placette/Chamereau.
“It was a really fantastic final for us. Before the start of the competition we didn’t think about the medals because this was the first senior tournament in our still young career. We thought a place n the podium was something impossible for us but we are now celebrating with the gold medals around our necks. I cannot find any words to express my feelings,” said an emotional Mariia Bocharova.
“The French team is a very strong one and we made a lot of mistakes in the first set. However, after the break we began to show our quality, believed in ourselves and changed the course of the game. It’s our first such result at this level and we are obviously proud of it,” added partner Maria Voronina, who – together with Bocharova – won gold at this year’s U18 and U20 European Championships.
In the men’s semi-finals, ninth-seeds Maksim Khudyakov and Ruslan Bykanov from Russia beat their compatriots Alexander Likholetov/Ilya Leshukov without any problem – 21-11, 21-0. In the second semi, Latvia’s Rihards Finsters/Aleksandrs Solovejs celebrated a 24-22, 21-16 victory over top-seeds Maxime Thiercy/Arnaud Gauthier-Rat from France.
The gold medal match needed a tiebreak to produce the eventual winners. Khudyakov and Bykanov comfortably took the first set (21-12), their opponents from Latvia managed to level the score, but in the final moments Khudyakov/Bykanov had more luck on their side to produce a 15-12 victory. The bronze medals went to Thiercy/Gauthier-Rat following the withdrawal of Likholetov and Leshukov due to injury.
“This was a fantastic tournament, since we lost the first match in the Main Draw but we ended up taking gold. We are happy with the result and with our game. I want to say a few words about the venue – this is a great arena, probably the best I have ever seen in my career, and we are happy that we could compete here. After our second game, where we beat a team from Azerbaijan, our mood improved and we simply enjoyed playing,” Khudyakov said.
Click here for further information
|