02/09/2016 09:08
Latvia’s golden girls Graudina and Kravcenoka set the bar high
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Jurmala Masters
Jurmala, Latvia, September 2, 2016. Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka caused a little sensation last Sunday when they surprisingly claimed the U22 European title only a few days before the start of the CEV Jurmala Masters. Their feat provided an extra boost to the promotion of the tournament which is being held on Majori beach and at the same time further raised the expectations of the local fans.
Actually Tina and Anastasija did not expect to make it that far in Thessaloniki. “Usually when you attend this kind of youth competitions there are at least four, five teams that can realistically have a shot at the medals,” Graudina explained, “but this time the level of the competition was incredibly high and we felt like almost any of the participating teams could have progressed to the finals. We decided we would take it one match at a time and this strategy worked just fine, since we ended up taking the gold medal.”
Graudina is already a two-time European champion since last year she took the U18 crown on home soil in Riga. There is an interesting anecdote she recalled about this achievement. “Almost at the beginning of the tournament Latvia’s Head of State, Mr Raimonds Vējonis, came to visit us and we kind of agreed that he would return if I made it to the final.” And the country’s highest political authority had to do so since Tina and her then partner Paula Neciporuka eventually cruised to the gold medal match which they claimed to the delight of the home crowd. “Our President is genuinely very interested in sports and I think he enjoys the atmosphere of sports events. I was told he is going to visit the Jurmala Masters on Sunday, so hopefully our paths will cross again,” Graudina added.
Latvia is a relatively small country with a population of less than two million people, but the Baltic nation has produced an astounding number of Beach Volleyball players and elite athletes in general. “I think Latvian people have good genetics and boast natural abilities and skills which make us excel in sports,” Graudina explained. “On the other hand, we do not have as many athletes as other countries like Russia or Brazil do, where if somebody is injured or retires, the next one is immediately ready to step in. We have to work with what we have and so every player is extremely valuable and has to be taken good care of.”
Graudina is an extremely talented athlete too, and last winter she practiced the heptathlon together with Latvian Olympian Laura Ikauniece-Admidina, who just finished fourth at the Rio 2016 Games: “This is my plan B,” Graudina joked. “Actually I have realised that athletics is helping me during the winter season, especially from a mental standpoint. I kind of rest and clean my mind, and at the same time athletics is a good way to stay fit and to prepare for the summer season in the best way.”
Graudina and Kravcenoka are still young but hope to follow in the footsteps of Latvian Beach Volleyball stars Inguna Minusa and Inese Jursone who won the European crown in 2009 in Sochi. “I was only eleven years old at the time, but I remember reading the news,” Graudina said. “I was not playing Beach Volleyball at the time, but I do recall it was a big thing for Latvia.”
Jurmala will be hosting next years’ European Championship Final and of course the two Latvian rising stars have set their sights on a participation in this highlight: “Jurmala is an ideal place where to host Beach Volleyball events,” Kravcenoka said. “We have the sand, the sea, a little breeze, that is a perfect place for our sport. At the same time, we feel really privileged to be able to play a tournament like the Jurmala Masters at home, where we train every day. We very much hope that we will be able to play at next year’s European Championship as well but we do not have enough ranking points at the moment. There will be entry spots for the host country but we need to make sure we will stand the competition brought by other Latvian teams who would also love to play at the championship.”
On Friday morning Graudina and Kravcenoka started their Jurmala Masters adventure losing to Germany’s Teresa Mersmann and Isabel Schneider in two sets. “We lost the first match but there are two more to follow against teams from France and Ukraine,” they explained. “If we can play our best, we are confident that we can progress to the knockout stage of the tournament.” That would be quite a feat especially for Graudina who has spent her entire life in Jurmala.
This is a success story that is certainly to be continued, since Graudina and Kravcenoka are just taking their first steps at the senior level and there is more glory to follow for the young Latvian girls…
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