Jurmala, Latvia, July 26, 2018. Thursday was a beautiful day for Beach Volleyball – as many as 48 matches were played during Day 1 of the 2018 CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship. 24 games in the men’s tournament and 24 in the women’s one brought many positive emotions to the fans at Jurmala Beach and set the tone for an exciting tournament due to continue later this weekend.
In the men’s tournament the surprise in Pool A came in the first match of the home favourites Kristaps Smits/Mihails Samoilovs (LAT) with them losing from the Norwegians Christian Ruud and Emil Ofstaas 1-2 (20-22, 21-14, 14-16), but then they managed to come back on their feet in their second match after claiming a 2-0 (21-16, 21-10) victory over the Slovaks Viliam Cizmazia/Patrik Pokopec. The head coach of Team Latvia, Lauris Iecelnieks, commented after the win that his players were more concentrated in the second game and this was the key to their success.
On the other hand, Ruud and Ofstaas seized another 2-0 victory (21-19, 21-19), this time vs. Maxim Voleanin/Maxim Korsakov from Moldova. Both Ruud and Ofstaas were pleased with the seized victories, especially with the one over the Latvians: “We were just trying to play our way, with tough services and we are happy because we managed to control the game in front of many fans who were cheering up for our opponents.”
The favourites in Pool C - Aleksandr Kramarenko and Vasilii Ivanov (RUS) had also a nice first day at Jurmala, after beating respectively Märt Tammearu and Timo Ander Lõhmus from Estonia by 2-0 (21-11, 21-19) and Matyas Dzavoronok and Tadeas Tezzele (CZE) with 2-0 (21-14, 21-14).
In Pool E Sergey Gorbenko and Dmitrii Veretiuk (RUS) outclassed Timothée Platre/Paul Nicole (FRA) with 2-0 (21-18, 21-17). Just some weeks ago Dmitrii Veretiuk, though with a different partner, met Platre/Nicole (FRA) in the Final of the U20 European Championship in Anapa and emerged victorious taking the gold medal.
In Pool G, the Italians Paolo Cappio and Jakob Windisch, who also performed very well in Anapa finishing on the fourth position, started good as well with a 2-0 (21-17, 22-20) victory vs. Ryan Poole and Harry Jones (ENG) and in Pool D the matchup between Moritz Kindl and Marian Klaffinger (AUT) vs. Aleksandr Nasonovs/ Roberts Klavins (LAT) was an interesting one. A small injury in team AUT with the result being 8:7 in their favour during the third set marked a dramatic end of the match, eventually won by the Latvians at 2-1 (19-21, 21-16, 16-14).
In the women’s tournament the reigning U22 European champions Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina (RUS), who are competing in Pool B, started on a positive note their path to defending their crown after winning vs. Lea Buser/Anna Lutz (SUI) with 2-0 (21-12, 21-7) and with the same result 2-0 (21-13, 21-11) over Anaya Evans/Ellie Austin (ENG). Both Russian players said they are happy to start off like this in the tournament: “Of course, everybody wants to win and to take the gold, but for now, we want to go step by step now and just win our matches.”
In Pool A one of the teams that is carrying the hopes for home success – Anastasija Kravcenoka and Tina Graudina (LAT), had two easy games on Day 1 of the tournament. First they met Natalia Blizmanova/Andrea Sandanusova (SVK) beating them 2-0 (21-4, 21-6) in a match that lasted 23 minutes only. In their second match, the home stars and 2016 U22 European champions showed good skills for another 2-0 victory (21-7, 21-11) over Orsolya Orban and Barbara Harmat (HUN). After their matches, Kravcenoka and Graudina invited all Beach Volleyball fans to attend the show of #EuroBeachVolleyU22:“When you are winning at home, it’s really emotional – this gives us energy and power to the games. The weather here is perfect, the wind from the sea is refreshing us and we hope to keep on claiming victories.”
In Pool C the hosts of Latvia, represented by team Varvara Brailko/Anete Namike were disappointed in their first matches in Jurmala after losing first from Leonie Körtzinger/Leonie Кlinke (GER) at 0-2 (12-21, 6-21) and then from Claudia Puccinelli/Gaia Traballi (ITA).
In Pool D Esmée Böbner/Zoé Vergé-Dépré (SUI) were better vs. Heleene Hollas and Liisa Soomets (EST) at 2-0 (21-16, 21-16). Esmée Böbner who just won a bronze medal at the U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship, but with a different partner, said that this was a good day for them – they were getting used to the atmosphere and to the wind.
Two-time (2017, 2018) U20 European champions Mariia Bocharova and Maria Voronina (RUS) had one match today in their Pool G vs. Tereza Kotlasova/Daniela Resova (CZE) and won it in straight sets (21-15, 29-27).
The pool stage at #EuroBeachVolleyU22 continues tomorrow, Friday.
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