05/07/2018 15:54
1-Star event underway in Anapa
2018 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Anapa
Anapa, Russia, July 5, 2018. Shortly after completion of the 2018 U20 European Beach Volleyball Championship, Volley Grad and Anapa are hosting another international Beach Volleyball competition – a 1-Star event that began on Thursday on the shores of the Black Sea. The programme of the tournament started with the qualification round featuring as many as five women’s and three men’s teams from Russia.
Anastasiia Frolova and Aleksandra Ganenko (pictured), who finished ninth at the #EuroBeachVolleyU20 last week, secured their spot in the Main Draw after edging their compatriots Elizaveta Novikova and Ksenia Sukhoverkova 2-1 (14-21, 21-16, 15-8). Three more Russian teams – Anastasia Barsuk/Ekaterina Syrtseva, Elizaveta Zayonchkovskaya/Daria Rudykh and Irina Frolova/Elena Sviridova – qualified for the Main Draw as well.
Pavel Shustrov of Russia blocking Botond Olah (HUN) during the qualification round
The men’s qualification started with Italy’s Francesco Vanni/Daniele Di Stefano claiming a 21-14, 21-13 victory over Yegor Dmitriyev/Yerlan Yelubayev of Kazakhstan. Home heroes Artur Salmanov and Anton Saraev lost in two sets (21-23, 14-21) to Austria’s Florian Ertl and Mathias Seiser. Russia’s Pavel Shustrov and Danila Ivanov beat Hungary’s Balazs Benko/Botond Olah in three sets (21-16, 15-21, 16-14) while newly crowned U20 European champions Dmitrii Veretiuk and Denis Shekunov lost in three sets to Greek brothers Vasileios and Angelos Mandilaris. Veretiuk and Shekunov lost the first set 20-22 despite leading by three points before winning the second 21-17. However, Mandilaris/Mandilaris proved stronger in the tiebreak (15-12). China’s Li Zhuoxin and Zhou Chaowei claimed the last spot available in the Main Draw as they beat Vanni/Di Stefano 22-20, 21-19.
Tournament Director Marina Shcherbakova addressed a few words to all participants, extending a warm welcome to Anapa from the Volleyball Federation of Russia and Volley Grad. “This was initially going to be a European tournament only, but following the FIVB and CEV’s decision to join forces, we could welcome teams from other continents as well. The athletes can play with many unknown teams and I am confident that the fans will enjoy many great matches. The Beach Volleyball calendar is a bit tough this year. Croatia is also hosting a 1-Star tournament these days; for many European teams it is easier to go to Croatia and they prefer not to spend much money to get to Anapa. To increase the interest in our tournament, we decided to raise the prize money at stake and to pay the accommodation for the Main Draw teams. I hope that our guests will enjoy their stay in Anapa. I wish the best of luck to all teams and much fun to the fans while watching many interesting matches.”
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