26/09/2020 20:00
Germany and Russia the dominant forces at #EuroBeachVolleyU22 in Izmir
CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championships 2020
Izmir, Turkey, September 26, 2020. On Saturday, after completion of the third competition day at Pamucak Beach, the semi-finalists of #EuroBeachVolleyU22 eventually emerged – with two teams from Germany and one apiece from Poland and Russia reaching the final stages of the men’s tournament. Two teams from Russia, plus one from Switzerland and Ukraine will contest the women’s semis and medal matches on Sunday.
The stormy and windy weather and its effects provided the players competing at the U22 continental event with challenging conditions on Saturday. The third competition day started with the Round of 16 matches. In the morning session, all of the pre-favourite teams lived up to their status and eventually reached the quarterfinals. The most anticipated duel of the day featured reigning U22 European champions Maria Voronina and Mariia Bocharova of Russia and last year’s bronze medal winners Daniela Alvarez and Maria Belen Carro of Spain. The match was a repeat of the semi-final from the 2019 event held in Antalya. Russian rising stars Voronina and Bocharova showed no mercy to celebrate a 2-0 (21-17, 21-13) victory. Swiss duo Esmee Böbner and Mara Betschart managed to beat the recently crowned U20 European champions Varvara Brailko and Anete Namike of Latvia in straight sets (21-19, 21-18) to play Voronina and Bocharova in the semis.
Reigning U22 European champions Maria Voronina/Mariia Bocharova of Russia remain in contention for another continental title
The second semi-final features Ukraine’s Sofiia Rylova/Yeva Serdiuk, bronze medallists at the U20 event in Brno two weeks ago, and Russia’s Anastasiia Frolova/Aleksandra Ganenko.
Teams from Germany were the standout performers in the men’s competition. Lukas Pfretzschner and Robin Sowa secured their spot in the semis with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) victory over Switzerland’s Nathan Broch and Jonathan Jordan while Mio Wüst and Rudy Schneider defeated Latvia’s Artus Rinkevics and Rudolfs Stankevics 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) to reach the top four as well. Wüst and Schneider will play Poland’s Milosz Kruk/Mikolaj Miszczuk in the semis, with Pfretzschner and Sowa taking on Alexey Gusev/Pavel Shustrov of Russia.
The 2020 edition of #EuroVolleyBeachU22 will be reaching its climax with the gold medal matches on Sunday, starting at 4:15 pm and 5:15 pm local time (CEST +1) for women and men, respectively. You can follow live streaming of these matches on EuroVolleyTV as well as on the CEV’s YouTube channel and Beach Volleyball Facebook page.
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