01/09/2016 16:00
Vika & Vika on a mission to take Beach Volleyball to the next level in Belarus
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Jurmala Masters
Jurmala, Latvia, September 1, 2016. Viktoryia Shalayeuskaya and Viktoryia Siakretava of Belarus achieved a historic feat for their country earlier this summer when they claimed the bronze medal at the U20 European Championship in Antalya, Turkey. This crowned a development process which started a few years ago already when the two ‘Vikas’ debuted at a home U18 European Championship in Molodechno. Aliaksandr Dziadkou and Yauhen Vishneuski had won bronze at the U23 European Championship in Assen (NED) in 2012, but no women’s team from Belarus had ever stood on a European podium before Vika & Vika did so in Antalya.
On Thursday they tried to add another milestone to their still young career – they are only (Siakretava) or yet to turn (Shalayeuskaya) 19 – by progressing to the Main Draw of the Jurmala Masters. They first beat Kim Gruber and Tatjana Greber of Switzerland (26-24, 21-19) but after a promising start to their match with Ieva Dumbauskaite and Irina Zobnina of Lithuania, they made mistake after mistake eventually losing 2-1, thus failing to secure a spot among the top 16 of the tournament being held on Majori beach. This setback is mostly due to the experience they still lack when competing at the senior level.
“I am extremely happy with the steady and continuous development of my players,” said Sergej Danilov, who is Shalayeuskaya and Siakretava’s coach and at the same time also the Secretary General of the Belarus Volleyball Federation. “This is the result of our hard work. My players are very committed to working as hard as possible in order to improve and this is the best approach a coach could ask from his players. Of course you always would like to win gold, but realistically speaking, we are happy with the bronze we won in Turkey earlier this summer.”
Beach Volleyball is still a fairly new sport in Belarus and as a result, Danilov is searching for opportunities to work with foreign coaches and teams to foster the development and growth of his ‘golden girls’. “This past winter we spent quite some time in the Czech Republic, where we trained with the local teams, including the two girls [Marie-Sara Stochlova and Martina Maixnerova] who some weeks ago were crowned U18 European champions. We also participated in the Czech Indoor Beach Volleyball tour; the Czechs organise a number of very nice events, and the conditions for training and playing are just ideal. We also had Finland’s rising stars Niina Ahtiainen and Ida Sinisalo among our sparring partners because they were also based in Prague for most of the winter season.”
In order to improve and be able to leave their mark also at the senior level Shalayeuskaya and Siakretava need to test their skills more and more often with strong opponents. “Age-group competitions and championships are always very cool and interesting, but Beach Volleyball is a very demanding and challenging sport,” Danilov explained, “so we need to be provided with opportunities to play with teams that are performing at a higher level, both mentally and physically. In this respect, the EEVZA zonal events are excellent as well, and not simply because they award ranking points, but especially because of the quality of the participating teams. We have developed a close cooperation also with our colleagues from Lithuania because it takes only 180 km to drive from Minsk to Vilnius, so we have been there too in order to work and train with their players. I also received offers from the Netherlands to have some camps together after we lost to their girls in the U20 EuroBeachVolley semi-finals, so I am happy that foreign coaches and teams are acknowledging the value of our girls and programme.”
There is another interesting fact that Danilov points out: “I have checked the age of the teams that played at the Rio 2016 Olympics, and they almost all consisted of players aged 25 or more, with only a very few exceptions. My girls are only 19, so if we keep working hard and progress, there is a chance that maybe we can make it to the elite level in time for the next Olympics in Tokyo in four years’ time.”
Other qualifiers
Back to the Jurmala Masters, two teams had a bye in the first round of the women’s qualification and eventually lived up to their status as first and second seeds by progressing to the Main Draw claiming their respective matches in two sets. Ksenia Dabizha and Yulia Abalakina of Russia needed only 24 minutes to rout Lithuania’s Monika Povilaityte and Karole Virbickaite 21-17, 21-14. As for Teresa Mersmann and Isabel Schneider of Germany, they needed a little longer – 29 minutes – to claim their matchup with Lynne Beattie and Melissa Coutts of Scotland (21-14, 21-9) but still their superiority was never to be questioned. Germany qualified a second team to the Main Draw after Katharina Culav and Sandra Seyfferth claimed a marathon match with Norway’s Ingrid Lunde/Oda Johanne Ulveseth 2-1 (21-19, 14-21, 18-16).
The competition on Majori beach will resume on Friday morning with the start of the Main Draw / pool play.
Click here for more info including detailed results
Live streaming of all matches is available right here
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