28/11/2018 20:00
Ljubljana poised to host second international Beach Volleyball event in four months
2018 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Ljubljana Winter
Ljubljana, Slovenia, November 28, 2018. Slovenian Beach Volleyball fans will witness a second FIVB Beach Volleyball 1-Star Satellite event in their capital city in four months. After the summer hit held at the Congress Square in Ljubljana, the Beach Volleyball caravan will deliver, for the first time ever, a winter event as well – this time in Črnuče.
Although the event in Slovenia’s capital takes place in November, when the teams are usually preparing for the main Beach Volleyball season, there was no lack of interest for the competition. Teams have travelled to Ljubljana from all over the world, including Australia and USA, but most of them are from Europe.
As many as nine teams, five men’s and four women’s tandems, will represent Slovenia and the first home favourites are Danijel Pokeršnik and Gašper Plahutnik. “I think we are in a quite good shape. We have trained hard and prepared well for the tournament but it all starts with the official matches, so we will have to wait for a little more to see where we stand at this moment. The teams coming to Ljubljana play on a high level and I am sure we will witness a very competitive tournament,” Plahutnik commented after the last practice on Wednesday evening.
Fifth seeded Nina Lovšin and Ana Skarlovnik, who astonished the audience with the bronze medal at the summer event (in tandem with Jelena Pešić), will this time be the strongest Slovenia’s candidates for a podium finish. “Although this will be our first tournament together, I am sure we can deliver a good performance. I am familiar with most of the teams, since many of them already have experience on the international level. I expect a tough competition,” said Lovšin, who pointed out that the Italian teams, which will try to qualify for the Main Draw, can cause a lot of trouble to the top seeded pairs later in the tournament.
Sara Breidenbach and Elena Colombi of Italy will be trying to cause a little sensation at the winter event in Ljubljana
One of them are Sara Breidenbach and Elena Colombi. “We play the qualifications on Thursday and we do not know any of the teams. For us this will be the first international appearance. Our goal is to play on the highest possible level; we have been preparing for this tournament for two months and I hope we will deliver our best performance,” Breidenbach said.
“As Sara already said, we do not know the opponents, but we know ourselves. We played good in the Italian championship and we came here with high expectations. This is part of our philosophy. To have high goals also means to achieve them – at least sometimes. Why not do it here, in Ljubljana,” Colombi added.
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