20/09/2015 20:32
Ranghieri/Carambula storm back from early setback to win Milan Masters
2015 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Milan Masters
Milano, Italy, September 20, 2015. The organisers of the Milan Masters – last stop of the 2015 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship – could not ask for more as home heroes Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula stormed back from the setback they had suffered in their first match on Saturday morning to edge Germany’s Jonas Schröder and Tim Holler in the final (21-16, 21-17). 2013 world champions Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands settled for bronze after upsetting Italy’s Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo in a close ‘small final’ (21-16, 13-21, 15-8).
Ranghieri and Carambula completed on Sunday night their incredible comeback in a home tournament that had definitely not started in the best way as the 2015 European silver medallists had lost to Schröder and Holler on Saturday morning and therefore had to fight their way back through the losers’ bracket.
Their gold medal is the real ‘icing on the cake’ for the highly successful Milan Masters as the tournament was held for the first time in an iconic venue right next to the towers that host the offices of the regional government of Lombardy. The crowd turned up in large numbers on Saturday and Sunday to contribute to a perfect ambiance which – combined with the location – made this tournament an experience to remember for players and fans alike.
The organisers went for a format that they are hoping to replicate in the future as the matches were played almost indoors with two Beach Volleyball courts set up on the ‘roofed square’ between the two glass-and-steel towers hosting the Government of Lombardy. The last act of the tournament was attended by many authorities, including the President of Lombardy Roberto Maroni and triple Olympic champion Antonio Rossi, a real sporting icon in Italy who is now chairing the Department of Youth and Sports in the regional government.
Back to the actions, Ranghieri and Carambula seemed to find their rhythm as the tournament progressed. On Sunday they contested as many as four matches opening the programme with a 2-1 dramatic win (19-21, 21-17, 17-15) over Denmark’s Peter Kildegaard/Kristoffer Abell, one of the real sensations of the Milan Masters. They then stretched their winning series to the match with U23 world champions Maciej Kosiak/Maciej Rudol of Poland (24-22, 21-18) thereby pocketing their ticket to the semis where they went on to claim the Italian derby with 2014 European champions Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo (21-14, 24-22).
Interestingly enough, the final act of the tournament was not only the remake of the match Ranghieri/Carambula and Holler/Schröder had played on Saturday morning, but it also featured two tandems that had both progressed to the last stage of the competition via the losers’ bracket.
Nicolai/Lupo, on the other hand, had a clean run up to the semis where they lost to Ranghieri/Carambula and after that they had to accept defeat also in the bronze medal match with 2013 world champions Brouwer/Meeuwsen of The Netherlands.
“I can only be happy with our first major international success together,” Ranghieri said. “It has been a very good season for us, which has not come to an end yet, however we needed a first place in international competitions. This victory is truly special, maybe because I have been the ambassador of this tournament right from the very beginning. I think that the experiment to organise a tournament in such unique location has been crowned with success and I am hoping that it will be repeated in the future. We are doing well, this victory is good also for our morale and we will need more in order to qualify and compete in Rio next year.”
Adrian Carambula received the award for the MVP of the tournament and could not hide his joy and satisfaction for this home success: “I am really happy with this victory. I am sorry that I could not show my skyball to the audience [because of the roof] but I think I found a good alternative. As Alex said, our major goal is to make it to next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and so we will need some more happy days and I am hoping that this is only the beginning of an amazing journey together.”
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