11/06/2016 19:17
Top-seeded Swiss claim women’s gold at Baden Satellite
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Baden
Baden, Austria, June 11, 2016. Tanja Hüberli and Nina Betschart of Switzerland lived up to their status of top-seeded team at the CEV Satellite tournament in Baden by claiming the gold medal of the women’s tournament after beating Jolien Sinnema and Rimke Braakman of the Netherlands in the final match (21-16, 21-16).
Home stars Katharina Schützenhöfer and Lena Plesiutschnig had to withdraw from Friday’s quarter-finals as a result of Plesiutschnig’s shoulder injury but on Saturday she had almost fully recovered and was ready to perform on the centre court set up at Strandbad in Baden. “It was a long night and we went from one hospital to the other, and after having a MRI I was told that everything is fine,” a relieved Plesiutschnig said on Saturday morning.
And that was really the case by looking at the performance she and partner Schützenhöfer delivered in the Austrian derby with Bianca Zass and Valerie Teufl where a spot in the semis was at stake. Plesiutschnig and Schützenhöfer won the match 21-18, 21-13 but later in the day they lost 18-21, 18-21 their semi-final with Betschart and Hüberli. The Austrians ended up losing also the bronze medal match with reigning U20 European champions Nika Daalderop and Joy Stubbe of the Netherlands (19-21, 20-22), dissipating a five-point lead in each set to be content with fourth place in the competition.
Betschart and Hüberli, on the other hand, dominated the final with Sinnema/Braakman to claim the first international gold medal of their still young partnership – Hüberli previously competed with Tanja Goricanec who is now pregnant with her first child whilst Betschart performed alongside Nicole Eiholzer, with whom she won gold at the Baku 2015 European Games and a number of medals at world and European age-group championships.
“I’m really happy about our first ever gold medal. We knew that we could make this happen as we were the top-seeded team here in Baden. But it was really tough,” Betschart said.
Austrian heroes Huber/Seidl still unbeaten
Home heroes Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl had a ‘short day’ in Baden which ended with good news for the Austrian team as well as for the local fans. Huber/Seidl started the day with an easy 21-16, 21-18 victory over Jonas Kissling/Marco Krattiger of Switzerland to move on to the semis and play there Maciej Kosiak/Maciej Rudol of Poland who edged Israel’s Sean Faiga/Ariel Hilman in straight sets as well (21-17, 22-20). Earlier in the day the Israelis had edged Austria’s youngsters Martin Ermacora/Moritz Pristauz-Telsnigg in a nail-biting five-setter (21-19, 20-22, 15-12).
Despite the loss the Austrians were quite happy with what they achieved in Baden. “It was our first time in Baden and we enjoyed every second of it. The organisation of the event is just perfect and the crowd is great,” said Ermacora.
In the second semi-final Poland’s Michal Bryl/Kacper Kujawiak will be playing Norway’s ‘bearded man’ Bjarte Usken and his partner Oivind Hordvik.
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