28/09/2020 16:30
Beach Volleyball season 2020 ends on a high note
News from the CEV
Luxembourg, September 28, 2020. Despite the many challenges brought by the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Beach Volleyball season ended this past weekend on a high note after delivering as many as 752 matches since late July when competition resumed with the 1-Star World Tour event held in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
The coronavirus pandemic brought sport to a halt across the globe earlier this year, resulting in the cancellation and postponement of many Beach Volleyball tournaments as well. However, with much dedication, hard work from all stakeholders and in compliance with very strict hygiene and health protocols, the 2020 season eventually featured four World Tour events, three age-group European Championships as well as the elite EuroBeachVolley 2020 held on Majori Beach in Jurmala, Latvia, earlier this month.
Anhelina Kmhil and Tetiana Lazarenko helped secure a historic Ukrainian double triumph at #EuroBeachVolleyU18 earlier this month in Izmir
There may be many travel restrictions still in place, but young players representing as many as 35 National Federations had the opportunity to complete on the international stage earlier this month, with the U18 and U22 European Championships held at the very same venue in Izmir, Turkey shortly after completion of the U20 competition in Brno, Czech Republic. In the end, as many as 179 teams accounted for more than 400 matches at this year’s age-group championships, with Russia and Ukraine celebrating a double triumph at the U22 and U18 events, respectively. In the U20 championship, teams from Sweden and Latvia claimed men’s and women’s gold.
Teams from 22 National Federations plus one men’s team and two women’s tandems travelling all the way from Chile featured across the four World Tour events held in Slovenia, Austria, France and Lithuania – with the city of Vilnius playing host to the very first such tournament ever held on Lithuanian soil. With the event in Montpellier a men’s only competition and the others being double-gender tournaments, the figures in terms of number of participating teams and matches played stand at 153 and 237, respectively.
Christian Sørum (left) and partner Anders Mol are now three-time European champions at the young age of 24 and 23, respectively
Despite the stormy weather that caused the cancellation of all matches on the third day of action, EuroBeachVolley 2020 was a major success as well, providing elite and up-and-coming teams with the only real opportunity to compete at the highest level in 2020. The Beach Volley Vikings from Norway, Anders Mol and Christian Sørum, claimed their third men’s title in a row, thus equalling the feat previously achieved by legendary teams such as the Laciga brothers from Switzerland and Reinder Nummerdor/Richard Schull of the Netherlands. Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré, on the other hand, became only the second Swiss women’s team to seize the continental crown after Simone Kuhn and Nicole Schnyder-Benoit had done so in 2004.
Anouk Vergé-Dépré (left) and Joana Heidrich were crowned European champions earlier this month in Jurmala, Latvia
EuroBeachVolley 2020 featured 64 teams from 16 countries and delivered 112 matches, accounting for the first senior continental event with modified pool play, with the live streaming proving a big hit across all of the CEV’s digital platforms.
With the 2020 Beach Volleyball season now behind us, we can proudly say that through a collective effort, we have been able to overcome the challenges of a truly unprecedented global health crisis and to provide players and fans with something to look forward to and witness, thus sending out a message of hope in these difficult times! Now, the attention turns towards the Snow Volleyball season, so we invite any interested National Federation or promoter to make contact with the relevant department at the CEV headquarters while preparing their application to host a snow event!
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