23/05/2015 19:42
Samoilovs/Smedins claim Latvian derby to make Jurmala Masters semis
2015 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Jurmala Masters
Jurmala, Latvia, May 23, 2015. The Jurmala Masters – first stop of this year’s CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship – continued on Saturday on Majori beach with CEV President André Meyer being also in attendance. This is Mr Meyer’s second visit to Latvia’s most popular seaside resort after last year he also attended the CEV Satellite tournament organised there by the Baltic Sea.
The competition reached its most exciting stages with the start of the knock-out phase on Saturday morning. Latvia’s Ruslans Sorokins/Aleksandrs Solovejs opened the programme on the centre court with a hard-fought 2:1 victory (19-21, 21-18, 15-12) over Jan Dumek and Robert Kufa of the Czech Republic. Latvia’s party continued with Martins Plavins/Hermans Egleskalns also making the quarterfinals of their home tournament after cruising to a 21-17, 21-16 win over another Czech pair, Premysl Kubala and Jan Hadrava. Home hero Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins completed a perfect start of the day for the Latvian teams as they easily edged past Greece’s Nikos Zoupanis and Georgios Kotsilianos (21-14, 21-13). The other teams to make the quarterfinals were France’s Youssef Krou/Edouard Rowlandson, Poland’s first-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel, Austria’s Daniel Müllner/Peter Eglseer, Norway’s evergreens Iver Andreas Horrem/Geir Eithun and Italy’s twins Paolo and Matteo Ingrosso.
The quarterfinals started with Fijalek/Prudel making the semis after a hard-fought victory over Austria’s Müllner/Eglseer (21-19, 19-21, 15-10). After that the Latvian fans in attendance suffered a big blow as Ruslans Sorokins and Aleksandrs Solovejs lost to France’s Krou and Rowlandson in three sets (21-17, 17-21, 13-15). The Italian twins Matteo and Paolo Ingrosso booked a spot in the semis following their 21-13, 21-16 victory over Horrem/Eithun. To close the day, Samoilovs and Smedins claimed a much anticipated Latvian derby with Plavins and Egleskalns after an emotional battle and three close sets (16-21, 21-19, 15-12). Samoilovs and Smedins are therefore well on track to repeat last year’s achievement when they won the Jurmala Satellite to the delight of the home crowd.
On Saturday Europe’s best Beach Volleyball players also had the opportunity to leave their footprints on Majori beach. These will be viewed tomorrow – the final day of the Jurmala Masters – being displayed on the beach right next to the centre court, before being moved to a local museum.
The players’ party will be held on Saturday evening where everyone is invited to attend free of charge and meet Europe’s best Beach Volleyball players, taking photos and getting autographs of their favourite heroes. On Saturday throughout the whole day the official opening of the summer resort’s season took place in Jurmala as well, with an extensive cultural and entertainment programme.
The competition will come to a close on Sunday with the semis scheduled for noon and 1 pm local time; the bronze medal match will then follow at 3 pm with the ‘grand finale’ scheduled for 4 pm to bring to an end a real Beach Volleyball party right by the coast of the Baltic Sea.
Starting from the quarterfinals, the matches of the Jurmala Masters are broadcast across Latvia by TV 6, whilst live streaming is provided for free by LAOLA1.tv for the global audience.
Click here for further information or visit the official website http://jurmala.beachvolley.lv
Visit also the official Facebook page and Twitter account of the Jurmala Masters
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