01/08/2013 15:00
Janis Smedins postpones birthday party hoping for European gold
2013 CEV A1 Beach Volleyball European Championship Final presented by checkrobin.com
Klagenfurt, Austria, August 1, 2013. Janis Smedins is one of only three athletes from Latvia who last year travelled back from the London Olympics with a medal around his neck. Together with Martins Plavins he got bronze at Earls Court thereby raising the popularity of Beach Volleyball to unprecedented heights in his country. Yesterday Janis turned 26 but he did not have that much time to celebrate.
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“Last year I had my birthday by the time I was playing at the Olympics, it happens almost every year that I am travelling around and so I can’t celebrate as I would like to. Last year I had my birthday party the day of the awards ceremony and this time I hope I can postpone it to this coming Sunday to possibly combine it with a gold medal” he says.
Smedins and Plavins parted ways after the Olympic season, something that did surprise many Beach Volleyball followers but Janis has got the right explanation for that. “Our coaches felt like I shall try out with Aleksandrs (Samoilovs) as they thought this was the best combination to exploit our potential. They were right for in our first season together we have made three times the final on the World Tour, winning one”. After winning the derby with Ruslans Sorokins and Janis’ brother Toms, they re-started their chase for European glory on Thursday as the centre court was packed with thousands of fans cheering on local youngsters Thomas Kunert and Lorenz Petutschnig. They eventually cruised to their second win in the pool (21-18, 21-10) showing once more why they are among the top contenders for this year’s European crown. “Our coaches deserve the credit for the steady development of Beach Volleyball in our country. We all started from the age groups and were pretty good there like these young Austrian guys we played today. They also have to work hard as we did in order to make it to the next level. After the Olympics we changed the composition of our top pairs; Martins (Plavins) is recovering from a minor injury right now but he’s found a partner in Janis Peda. In the end we have got three teams competing at the highest level and that is something really remarkable for a small country like Latvia”.
In Klagenfurt Janis will try to improve on the bronze medal he and Plavins won three years ago in Berlin, so far Latvia’s only medal at the European Championship. “Of course we came here setting the highest goals. This is the first year I did not play indoor for we spent two months in Egypt for training during the off-season and I am totally dedicated to this sport. Our long-term goal, together with Sasha, is to make it to Rio 2016 and win a medal there. We want to continue with this steady development we have shown in the past years. Latvia had only one team playing at the Beijing Olympics, Samoilovs/Plavins, while last year we had two in London. Out of the three teams starring on the World Tour, we shall finally get the two that will carry the hopes of our country in Rio. However, that’s not all for we have some young guys who are also working hard and want to compete internationally. They did so last week at the FIVB Open in Anapa and they made the Main Draw, so this means they also are doing a good job”.
Their coaches have got the recipe to achieve all this, but when it comes to finances, where does the money come from? “After Martins and I won bronze at the Olympics last year, we got the right to be supported by our Olympic Committee but this is not enough to cover all the expenses that you have to bear as you travel the world as extensively as we do. We have got our sponsors supporting us but we always have to plan carefully in order to economize, especially if you travel to Brazil, China or USA. Anyway, everything is going well so far and I am happy that we have enough points to compete also at the ASICS World Series in the USA. Beach Volleyball is a big thing over there too”. Next on his to-do list is a second European medal, something that would round out a week that got started with a birthday he did not have time to celebrate…
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