08/07/2018 19:00
Russia and China sweep the women’s and men’s podiums at Anapa
2018 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Anapa
Anapa, Russia, July 8, 2018. Russia and China completed a clean sweep of the women’s and men’s podiums, respectively, as the 1-Star Satellite held in Anapa ended on Sunday in southern Russia.
After edging another two Russian teams in the semis on Saturday, Daria Mastikova/Anastasia Petrunina and Nadezda Makroguzova/Svetlana Kholomina locked horns for an all-Russian women’s final. Makroguzova and Kholomina, who are the reigning U22 European champions, claimed the first set 21-13 and they dominated the second as well, with Makroguzova’s blocking and an ace by the same player helping towards a 21-15 win.
“We are very happy, especially since this is our first medal this season,” Makroguzova said. “I am especially happy that we remained focussed and achieved our goal – the victory. We did not know these opponents before but we could play well against them.” Kholomina added that the tournament in Anapa was a perfect way to prepare for next week’s 5-Star event in Gstaad, Switzerland.
The eventual winners of the tournament held in Anapa, Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina of Russia
Ekaterina Birlova and Evgenia Ukolova completed the podium as they beat Ksenia Dabizha and Yulia Abalakina 21-19, 21-17 in the all-Russian bronze medal match.
The men’s competition resumed with the semis where China’s Li Zhuoxin and Zhou Chaowei beat Russia’s Ivan Golovin and Taras Myskiv 15-21, 21-18, 15-13. It shaped up an all-Chinese gold medal match where Li and Zhou eventually lost to their compatriots Ha Likejiang and Wu Jiaxin. Ha and Wu stormed to a 21-9, 19-21, 15-9 victory to secure the gold medal as they played very well especially in the deciding moments of the match. “We are really happy with this victory since we achieved the goal we had coming here,” said Wu.
An action shot from the all-Chinese final featuring Ha Likejiang/Wu Jiaxin vs. Li Zhuoxin/Zhou Chaowei
After withdrawing from their semi-final with Ha/Wu, the third Chinese team, Peng Gao and Yang Li beat Golovin/Myskiv 21-16, 17-21, 15-12 to complete a Chinese sweep of the men’s podium.
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