04/08/2019 23:50
Jakopin and Boženk celebrate long-awaited Slovenian gold in Ljubljana
2019 World Tour 1-Star - Ljubljana
Ljubljana, Slovenia, August 4, 2019. Vid Jakopin and Tadej Boženk (pictured) took the long-sought Slovenian gold from the FIVB World Tour 1-Star event held in the country’s capital. In the women’s final, Ukrainian twin sisters, Inna and Iryna Makhno claimed the first place in their third attempt at reaching the top spot of the podium in Ljubljana.
At the beginning of another intense day, Inna and Iryna Makhno secured their ticket to the final with a 2-1 (21-16, 19-21, 15-8) win over Julia Wouters and Katja Stam of the Netherlands. There they would face Norway’s Victoria Faye Kjølberg and Ane Guro Tveit Hjortland, who struggled to overcome Japan’s Kaho Sakaguchi and Reika Murakami 22-20, 17-21, 15-12.
The home matadors Nejc Zemljak and Jan Pokeršnik pleased the full stands in Ljubljana defeating the Dutch pair Yorick de Groot/Mees Bloom 21-16, 14-21, 15-7. Vid Jakopin and Tadej Boženk joined their compatriots in the final with a dramatic 2-1 (21-16, 16-21, 17-15) win against Austria’s Florian Ertl/Johannes Kratz.
Wouters and Stam started the third place match determined to conquer the podium and did not allow anything to stop them from achieving their goal. They stormed over the Japanese pair to record a quick 21-13, 21-11 win. “Of course, we came here for the gold, since we have already won the other two medals in the past. Still, we are very happy with this one, especially after the semi-final where we were not at our level. I am so happy that we improved in this match and played as we wanted to and that led us to the bronze medal. This crowd is crazy, especially for a 1-Star event. I really love the fans here,” an ecstatic Wouters said after the match.
The bronze was obviously a Dutch affair in Ljubljana with Blom and De Groot claiming the third place as well. Their solid 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) win versus Ertl and Kratz was enough for the Dutchmen to start the celebration. Blom was pleased with the outcome: “It was a good match. I think all of us were a bit tired after the semis. Although we did not deliver our best performance, we kept playing, leading and at the end we won. It feels great to claim the bronze medal at the end. The centre court in Ljubljana is great. We loved it! With so much support from the stands we felt like we were playing at home.”
Ukrainian twin sisters Inna and Iryna Makhno celebrate their gold medal winning performance in Ljubljana.
After the bronze and silver medals claimed in previous years, the Makhno twins finally emerged victorious in Ljubljana. Kjølberg and Hjortland did their best and managed to regroup after the 21-14 defeat they suffered in the first set, claiming the second one 21-16. In the last one, however, the Ukrainians proved to be too strong, Inna closing the match with an ace (15-13). After the match, she could not find the right words to describe their joy: “We are very happy with this result, because last year we ended second. Today we finally won! Ljubljana is a beautiful city and we really enjoyed playing here.”
The last match of this year’s edition of the tournament was a true crowd pleaser. In the clash of two Slovenian teams, it was Jakopin and Boženk who took all the glory at the end, edging Zemljak and Pokeršnik 16-21, 21-18 and 15-11. “Our goal was to reach the semi-finals; we definitely did not expect to win the tournament. We went game by game and tried not to put too much pressure on ourselves. It was a great match and maybe we were a bit luckier at the end,” Boženk summarised his feelings after the triumph. Jakopin agreed with his partner that easiness was crucial: “We had no pressure, but I am sure that it was a completely different situation for the opponents. We took advantage of our chance and finished at the top.”
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