27/09/2020 19:00
#EuroBeachVolleyU22 ends with double Russian triumph in Izmir
CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championships 2020
Izmir, Turkey, September 27, 2020. Last Sunday, Ukraine had celebrated a double gold medal on the final day of competition at #EuroBeachVolleyU18. A week later, Russia achieved the very same feat at the U22 event held at Pamucak Beach as well, with Anastasiia Frolova/Aleksandra Ganenko (pictured) and Alexey Gusev/Pavel Shustrov emerging as the eventual winners of the women’s and men’s competition, respectively. It is the second straight U22 European title for Gusev and Shustrov, who had triumphed last year in Antalya as well.
As expected, the biggest favourites of the women’s competition, Maria Voronina and Mariia Bocharova made it to the final. They beat Swiss opponents Esmée Böbner and Mara Betschart in two sets in the semis (21-16, 21-10). In the second semi-final, Anastasiia Frolova and Aleksandra Ganenko needed two sets as well to defeat Sofiia Rylova and Yeva Serdiuk of Ukraine – the bronze medal winners from the U20 competition held two weeks ago in Brno. The Russians cancelled a set point for their opponents in the first set and that was the key moment of the match.
Later in the afternoon, Böbner and Betschart needed 43 minutes to secure the bronze medal from their matchup with Rylova and Serdiuk (2-1; 21-16, 15-21, 15-10).
The full women’s podium with two teams from Russia and one from Switzerland
In an all-Russian final, Frolova and Ganenko caused a bit of a sensation with their 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) victory over reigning #EuroBeachVolleyU22 champions Voronina and Bocharova.
“We are very happy that we delivered such a performance and we took the gold medal at #EuroBeachVolleyU22. Our main goal is to play at the Olympic Games,” Ganenko said.
In the men’s competition, Poland’s Milosz Kruk and Mikolaj Miszczuk reached the final after they beat Mio Wüst and Rudy Schneider of Germany 2-1 (21-17, 15-21, 15-12) in 53 minutes.
Alexey Gusev celebrates his second straight #EuroBeachVolleyU22 title
Russian pair Alexey Gusey and Pavel Shustrov had fight to stay in contention for the title, as they needed two sets to edge another German team in Lukas Pfretzchner and Robin Sowa (21-16, 21-19) in a repeat of last year’s gold medal match.
Later in the day, they delivered a great performance to beat Poland’s Kruk/Miszczuk 2-0 (21-18, 22-20) and secure the second triumph for their country in as many gold medal matches contested on Sunday in Izmir.
Teams from Russia, Poland and Germany compose the men's podium in Izmir
“I still cannot believe that we are the champions of #EuroBeachVolleyU22 right now. We are proud, since we delivered a series of great performances throughout the whole tournament,” said Gusev.
Wüst and Schneider ended the tournament in third place after winning the German derby with Pfretzschner and Sowa in the bronze medal match (21-13, 21-18).
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