04/06/2016 12:56
Swiss dreams shattered following fine display by top-seeded Dutchmen
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Final
Biel / Bienne, Switzerland, June 4, 2016. On Saturday late morning late the rainy weather did not prevent many Swiss fans from finding their way to the venue of the 2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final in Biel / Bienne. Right at 12 o’clock, Gabriel Kissling and Adrian Heidrich played their Round of 16 match with Dutchmen Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst of The Netherlands in what was a last attempt to reignite the Swiss hopes of glory on home sand. The fans enjoyed a good match but the ‘Oranjes’ lived up to their status of first-seeded team in the tournament – especially 39-year-old Nummerdor (pictured) delivered a terrific performance – to move on to the next round of the men’s competition.
The 2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final is being extensively covered on the CEV website (click here) as well as on all CEV social media pages; a comprehensive live gallery of the competition is available here while additional information can be found on the organisers’ website www.beacheuro2016.ch.
Though Heidrich and Kissling had surprisingly claimed the top spot in the final standing of their pool, and hundreds of fans did almost never stop supporting the home heroes, Nummerdor and Varenhorst were just too much to stand for the young Swiss. The silver medallists from the 2015 FIVB World Championships and winners of the Moscow Grand Slam last week played with impressive consistency and were able to stand any attempt made by their opponents to take control of the game. In the end Nummerdor and Varenhorst – who are hoping to improve on the bronze medal they won last year in Klagenfurt – claimed a 21-19, 21-18 victory to progress to the quarterfinals where they will be playing their countrymen Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen in a remake of last year’s ‘small final’.
After a shaky start to the tournament where they dropped two consecutive matches in their pool, tenth-seeded Konstantin Semenov and Viacheslav Krasilnikov of Russia are back on track. Actually they did not have to play at all, and they made it through to the quarterfinals by means of a yet another walkover. On Friday afternoon their French opponents Youssef Krou/Edouard Rowlandson had withdrawn from the matchup they were due to play in the first elimination round and the same happened on Saturday morning when Poland’s Bartosz Losiak and Piotr Kantor pulled out of the competition as well.
However, the Russians now have to get ready for a real challenge as they are set to play reigning European champions Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins of Latvia. The ‘Lion King’ from Jurmala and the Olympic bronze medallist from London 2012 cruised to a 21-19, 21-18 victory over Russia’s Dmitry Barsouk and Nikita Liamin in the match that opened Saturday’s programme on the side courts.
Biel / Bienne is a ‘lucky place’ not only for Semenov/Krasilnikov but for Matteo and Paolo Ingrosso as well. The gold medal winners of the 2015 Biel / Bienne Masters progressed to the quarterfinals after edging Germany’s Sebastian Fuchs and Stefan Windscheif (21-17, 21-14). The Italians were in full control almost from start to end and even a medical time-out asked by the German team in the second set did not disrupt their triumphal march.
Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel claimed the Polish derby with Michal Kadziola and Jakub Szalankiewicz in what was one of the closest matches in the Round of 16 (18-21, 21-17, 15-7). The bronze medallists from Klagenfurt 2013 will be now playing the Ingrosso twins for a spot in the semis.
The quarterfinals will also provide a star-studded clash featuring the gold medal winners of 2013 – Spain’s Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira – and 2014 – Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo. The Spaniards claimed one of the most anticipated matches in the Round of 16 and did so in style with a speedy 21-18, 21-11 victory over Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst of Austria. Herrera and Gavira – who are also the gold medallists of the 2014 Biel / Bienne Masters – will now play a ‘Mediterranean derby’ with Nicolai/Lupo who made up for an early three-point deficit in the second set of their matchup with Norway’s Morten Kvamsdal and Christian Sandlie Sørum (21-17, 21-19) to secure a spot in the quarterfinals of this year’s EuroBeachVolley.
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