Antalya, Turkey, May 7, 2014. The 2014 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite Antalya got underway with the qualification tournament at the WOW Kremlin Hotel. After a total of 48 matches, 8 men’s and 8 women’s teams advanced to the main draw.
Joy Stubbe / Julia Wouters from the Netherlands, one of the first-timers in the Satellite tournaments, gained their position in the main draw by winning two matches. The Dutch pair started its campaign with a 3:0 (15-5, 17-15, 15-6) against the local Turkish team of Sera Erisek / Selin Toy. In their second game Stubbe / Wouters played against Ceren Atila / Resmiye Cakmak, another Turkish pair, and won the match in straight sets by 3:0 (15-6, 15-11, 15-10) to make it to the main draw.
The young duo was very happy for qualifying. 16 year-old Stubbe said that it was not their best performance. “But it was enough to win,” she added. ”This is our first Satellite tournament so we are very happy to advance to the main draw. It was really hard to play because of the wind, but there is also wind in the Netherlands so it was not a surprise for us.” Her partner Julia Wouters believes that they will play better in the main draw and is satisfied by the conditions in Antalya.
The host team lost its chance to play in the main draw, but Ceren Atila said that they gained experience by playing in the 2014 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite Antalya. Her partner Resmiye Cakmak added that playing best-of-five games is difficult for them because they had never done it before.
Turkish national beach volleyball team coach Carlos Galletti - Alemao stated: “We have teams that are working really hard. They are going to be better in the future. They did their best today, but I think they are a little bit short of experience. They need to gain more experience and they are going to do it by taking part in international tournaments like this. The main draw matches will be difficult for us. All of our opponents are quality players and they have been playing in these tournaments for years. We did our best to prepare for this tournament. I wish all my players the best luck. We need time and we are going to be better.”
In addition to the Dutch pair, the women’s teams of Emilia Nystrom / Erika Nystrom from Finland, Jenny Heinemann / Anika Krebs from Germany, Helle Sondergard / Line Trans Hansen from Denmark, Elizaveta Sulima / Darya Udovenko from Ukraine, Deborah Giaoui / Mathilde Giordano from France, Ester Ribera Boter / Amaranta Fernandez Navarro from Spain and Katerina Valkova / Kristyna Adamcikova from the Czech Republic also made it through the qualifications on to the main draw, starting on Thursday as early as 07:30 local time.
The following eight duos emerged as main draw participants from the men’s qualification tournament: Daniel Hupfer / Julian Hörl from Austria, Tim Holler / Jonas Schröder from Germany, Anders Lund Hoyer / Mads Rosager from Denmark, Pierre Basset / Jeremy Ullmann from France, Peter Dilling Kildegaard Andersen / Martin Olesen from Denmark, Martin Tichy / Martin David from the Czech Republic, Matteo Cecchini / Matteo Martino from Italy and Jake Sheaf / Chris Gregory from England.
Click here for more information on the tournament.