03/07/2014 19:51
Another day full of surprises at Novi Sad Masters
2014 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Novi Sad Masters
Novi Sad, Serbia, July 3, 2014. The first day of main draw action at the Novi Sad Masters was marked by a series of close matches and a good share of surprises as 24 teams were fighting for one of the 16 spots at stake to make it to the elimination stage. The Novi Sad Masters is the third stop of this year’s CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship – after the Baden Masters and the Final in Cagliari – and this time there is even more at stake than prize money and valuable ranking points since the winners will book a ticket for their National Federation to next year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in the Netherlands.
France’s Youssef Krou and Edouard Rowlandson – who yesterday had upset triple European champion Reinder Nummerdor and his young partner Steven van de Velde in the qualification – continued their march this time by edging the first-seeded pair of the tournament, Austria’s Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl (21-17, 21-19). Huber and Seidl, who are well-known in Novi Sad and had finished fourth two years ago there on the banks of the Danube, got back on track as they beat Switzerland’s Mats Kovatsch and Jonas Kissling (21-16, 21-13) to make the next round of the competition.
Finn Dittelbach and Eric Koreng, the second-seeded pair of the tournament, have to pack their bags and travel back home. They first lost to Italy’s Matteo Cecchini/Matteo Martino (24-26, 17-21) and even though they beat Norway’s Oivind Hordvik and Bjarte Usken in their second match (23-21, 21-19), they still ended up pool play in third place and are eliminated from the competition. Oivind Hordvik is also a familiar face in Novi Sad for he won the 2011 edition of the tournament with former partner Iver Andreas Horrem.
To continue with former medallists of the Novi Sad Masters, 2012 runner-up Jan Hadrava and his 40-year old partner Premysl Kubala had to work hard to beat Portugal’s Roberto Mauro Silva Reis and Fabricio Silva in a marathon match that lasted for 50 minutes (23-21, 30-28). Though they lost their second match of the day to Latvia’s Ruslans Sorokins and Edvarts Buivids (21-18, 15-21, 13-15), Hadrava and Kubala progressed to the next stage of the competition. Hadrava won silver in 2012 together with former partner Robert Kufa.
2012 gold medallist Thomas Kaczmarek of Germany – who back then topped the charts together with Alexander Walkenhorst – is competing in Novi Sad alongside Sebastian Fuchs. The sixth seed of the tournament had an excellent day as they first edged Poland’s Damian Wojtasik and Dominik Witczak (21-15, 21-17) and then had the upper hand also over Greece’s Georgios Kotsilianos and Nikos Zoupanis (22-20, 21-15) to finish first in their pool.
There wasn’t much to celebrate for the home teams and their fans since all three Serbian duos did not make the next round. Two-time national champions Sinisa Antonic and Marko Galesev – who earlier this year debuted on the World Tour – first lost to Belgium’s Bob Douwen and Robert Adriaensen 1:2 (21-16, 20-22, 13-15) and after that withdrew from the competition after Antonic suffered an injury during the match with Russia’s Sergei Prokopiev and Grigory Goncharov. The other two teams from Serbia, Stefan Basta/Miljan Kikovic and Sasa Surla/Rasko Jovanovic, also did not manage to score a victory on Thursday.
Turkey’s Murat Giginoglu and Selcuk Sekerci – who last year won gold at the Mediterranean Games in Mersin – celebrated two consecutive victories as they first beat Basta/Kikovic (21-16, 21-17) and then also fifth-seeded Tobias Winter and Lorenz Petutschnig of Austria (22-20, 21-16). Giginoglu and Sekerci feel at home in Novi Sad where they won a silver medal in 2011: “We got two victories today, the first with the Serbian team, and then we also beat the Austrian guys, this way securing our spot in the next phase,” Sekerci commented. “We want to continue our winning streak also tomorrow. This is my fourth time in Novi Sad and I can only say that the organisation of this tournament is always great. Novi Sad is a very nice place and I enjoy it every time I come here.” Giginoglu and Sekerci will try to improve on the ninth place they had to be content with last year.
At the end of the day the following teams were eliminated from the competition: Vicente Monfort Minaya/Javier Monfort Minaya (ESP), Finn Dittelbach/Eric Koreng (GER), Georgios Kotsilianos/Nikos Zoupanis (GRE), Ruslans Sorokins/Edvarts Buivids (LAT), Mats Kovatsch/Jonas Kissling (SUI), Sinisa Antonic/Marko Galesev (SRB), Stefan Basta/Miljan Kikovic (SRB), and Sasa Surla /Rasko Jovanovic (SRB).
The second round of the main draw will take place tomorrow, starting at 10 am, providing a chance for the remaining teams to claim a spot in the semis coming up on Saturday.
All matches are streamed live and for free at LAOLA1.tv
Click here for more information, including detailed results, pictures and much more
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