09/08/2013 21:30
Demonstration of power by the favorites in Vilnius
2013 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship
Vilnius, Lithuania, August 9, 2013. The best young Beach Volleyball teams in Europe demonstrated on the second day of the CEV U20 European Championship being held in the Lithuanian city of Vilnius that power, emotion and suffering are not limited by age. In the matches played on Friday, the candidates to the title made a step forward in their intention to reach the final stages of the competition.
In the men’s tournament, Norway’s Bjarne Nikolai Huus/Christian Sørum confirmed their candidacy to the title as they overcame the problems of the first day to lead pool G with two convincing victories. The silver medalists at the 2013 FIVB U19 World Championship showed a skilful demonstration of efficiency and now aim at the quarterfinals in the matches to be played on Saturday. Ukraine’s Mykola Khomyn/Yuriy Bokshan also closed the round with three victories that granted them the leadership of the disputed pool E. The young Ukrainians took advantage of their powerful blocks to corroborate their position of privilege grounded in their physical strength. In pool D, Germany’s Max Betzien/Wito Krüger used the momentum gained in the first day of competition to achieve two more impressive victories and put favorites Aleksander Margiev/Aleksander Kozorezov from Russia on the brink of elimination.
Austria’s Paul Buchegger/Lukas Peter Stranger also finished with a victorious pool round, as well as Latvia’s Toms Prokofjevs/Vlads Smirnovs and the two Polish teams, who firmly endorsed their condition of names to follow. Lukasz Kaczmarek/Sebastian Kaczmarek arrived to Vilnius as one of the squads to consider for the crown and they did not disappoint, since they closed their matches with an impressive tally of only 73 points lost. Michal Bryl/Kacper Kujawiak also won all their matches but they had to go to tie-break to beat France’s Maxime Thiercy/Romain Di Giantommaso.
One of the surprises of the round was produced by Switzerland’s Dennis Lerch/Marco Krattiger, who dominated pool H and offered a complete performance that granted them three triumphs in two sets each. “I am happy that we won and that we finished as pool leaders”, said Dennis Lerch, who together with his teammate Marco Krattiger are facing their first international tournament in Vilnius. “It wasn’t our best match (against Croatia’s Zeljkovic/Pervan) but it was a match that we needed to win”, pointed out Marco Krattiger.
The participation of the local teams in the men's competition showed an ambivalent result for Lithuania. Both squads made it to the elimination round, although Matas Navickas/Edvinas Vaskelis ended with a defeat, while Arnas Rumsevicius/Lukas Kazdailis finished with a victory. The younger of the two local teams lost against Belarus’ Anton Dedkov/Anton Sinhayeuski, a result that was lamented by the players after the match. “We lost because we made eight serving mistakes in the first set. That’s the reason of this result. We were not able to recover and even though our opponents were at our same level, we could not stop them”, said Matas Navickas. On the other hand, Rumsevicius/Kazdailis produced a victory celebrated by all the fans that filled up the stands of Credit24 Arena. The local heroes beat France’s Thiercy/Di Giantommaso in an effective match by the Lithuanians. “Today we played much better than yesterday, since we got rid of part of the stress we had in the last days. Now we will wait for our opponents tomorrow”, pointed out Arnas Rumsevicius.
Convincing victories in women's tournament
In the women’s tournament, representatives from Switzerland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland established their position of dominance with the finalization of the pool round, in which the favorites overcame the surprises of the first day in order to impose their strength. Switzerland’s Nina Betschart/Nicole Eiholzer confirmed their status as one of the teams to beat, after leading the group in a landslide, granting only 49 points to their opponents in the three matches they played. A similar pattern was followed by Barbora Pilatova/Hana Tresnakova from the Czech Republic, a team that overwhelmed their rivals in the three matches and only ceded 65 points. Germany’s Maxi Batschkus/Lisa Glor and Sandra Ittlinger/Yanina Weiland were also among the teams that closed the round with three victories, stating the great form of the squads from Germany in the tournament. Poland’s Karolina Baran/Jagoda Gruszczynska certified the condition of candidates with a demonstration of effective playing, also confirmed by the scarce 64 points lost in the three matches.
The Lithuanian fans that crowded Credit24 Arena for the last matches of the day, that showcased the local teams, vibrated with the performance of their stars Ieva Dumbauskaite/Monika Povilaityte. The local heroines beat Pauline Martin/Margaux Carrere from France in a sensational match. The celebrations could not be completed for the local delegation as Urte Andriukaityte/Simona Vaiciukynaite lost against Italy’s Irene Enzo/Margherita Bianchin and finished their participation in the competition. “It’s very sad that we didn’t pass the pool round. We thought we could do it, but we didn’t make it, because the Italian girls played a good match. Now we have to prepare for the U18 European Championship in Belarus”, said Simona Vaiciukynaite.
The tournament that gathers the top U20 duos in Europe reaches now its decisive stage, a phase that will determine the squads that will fight for gold and will attempt to be proclaimed as the new best promising teams in the continent.
Follow the action of the tournament this Sunday live on LAOLA1.tv
Click here for more information, including detailed schedule and results.
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