Antalya, Turkey, May 17, 2014.  Austria took the seventh place at the men’s 2014 CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Final in Antalya.  After losing their decisive match for one of Europe’s six tickets to the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, Paul Buchegger / Moritz Bernd Pristauz-Telsnigg achieved three straight-set victories to take the position of the #1 reserve team for any additional Olympic vacancies that may be made available to Europe.

Austria cruised through Pool G shutting out Lithuania by 2:0 (21-13, 21-11) in 29 minutes and Bulgaria by 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) in 34 minutes.

The other Pool H was very tight with the three teams scoring one victories each.  It all came down to the calculators which pointed to Latvia’s Raimonds Linins / Karlis Kaulins as the other seventh place finalist.

In the last match of the tournament, Buchegger / Pristauz-Telsnigg did not want to waste a lot of time either and secured the 2:0 (21-14, 21-13) victory in 31 minutes of play time.

“The last three game was easier for us to play because there was no pressure,” said Moritz Bernd Pristauz-Telsnigg.  “We had more fun and enjoyed the game. The last match was way better than the previous ones.”

“We played seven matches, but lost the most important one,” Paul Buchegger commented.  “It was a really close game so it is hard for us.  But we finished the tournament really cool.  We have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Austria’s coach Rainer Errath added:  “We lost only one game and it was with the tie-breaker, and now we are seventh.  We did everything we can.  Maybe we will be in China with a ‘wild card’…”

In the ninth place final Spain’s Hugo Rojas Martínez / Javier Huerta Pastor defeated Lithuania’s Edvinas Vaskelis / Matas Navickas by 2:0 (21-17, 21-18) in 36 minutes of play time.