09/07/2016 22:11
German tradition continues in Timisoara with Behrens/Glenzke taking gold
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Timisoara
Timisoara, Romania, July 9, 2016. Teams from Germany seem to have a special connection with the city of Timisoara. Last year Cinja Tillmann and Katarina Schillerwein had stood on top of the podium at the inaugural CEV Satellite held in the Romanian city. Less than 12 months later, another German team – Kim Behrens and Nadja Glenzke – won gold to cap four exciting days of world-class Beach Volleyball action in Timisoara.
The fourth and final day of the 2016 CEV Satellite in Timisoara was one to remember with the four teams still in contention for the medals delivering a real show and more than 800 fans in attendance to exceed the capacity of the centre court.
Behrens and Glenzke almost emulated their countrywomen Tillmann/Schillerwein who last year had claimed top honours after starting their campaign from the so-called ‘country quota’ matches. Behrens and Glenzke’s journey started on Wednesday in the qualification round and came to an end on Saturday night when they beat Austria’s twins Nadine and Teresa Strauss in the gold medal match (19-21, 21-13, 15-8). The Strauss sisters had also started their adventure in the qualification round contested on Wednesday.
Nadine and Teresa Strauss embarked on their quest for gold in the best way winning the first set but they made too many mistakes in the second, with Behrens/Glenzke securing a three, four-point lead for most of the set. Behrens attacked strong and regularly found a way through the Austrian block. The Germans dominated the tie-break even though the Strauss sisters did never stop fighting. The Austrians turned into the crowd favourites and were supported by the Romanian fans through to the end of the match.
“This is our first medal from a CEV Satellite tournament and we are happy with it,” Nadine and Teresa Strauss said. “Of course we are sad that we could not beat the Germans in the final but we are already looking forward to the next competitions. The level here was really good and we are happy with our participation in this tournament.”
“The level of the competition was really great and of course we are happy with these gold medals,” Behrens and Glenzke said. “We played some very good teams and had a number of extremely tough matches the last few days.”
Poland’s Jagoda Gruszczynska and Dorota Strag – the 2014 U22 European champions – completed the podium by winning the bronze medal match with Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka (19-21, 29-27, 15-7). The Poles – who had started the tournament straight from the Main Draw – played the Latvian qualifiers in a match that was extremely close and dramatic. Gruszczynska and Strag fought back after losing the first set and showed nerves of steel in the deciding moments of the match to eventually settle for third place. Graudina – the reigning U18 European champion – and Kravcenoka put on a fight through to the end and were passionately cheered on by the Romanian crowd as well.
“It was a good tournament with many good teams. Of course it is not the highest level you can get in Europe but we are really happy with the bronze medal and with our participation in this Satellite,” Jagoda Gruszczynska said.
On behalf of the Organising Committee, Mr Horia Cardos said: “I am happy that again we had the opportunity to organise and host such a great competition. I would like to thank all those who were involved in the delivery of this tournament – colleagues and friends from the CEV, the Romanian Volleyball Federation, the local authorities and all participating teams – but especially this wonderful crowd. Hundreds of people have been here, and not only today, and this makes me believe that Volleyball and Beach Volleyball are at home here in Timisoara. We have already started plans to host another Beach Volleyball competition next year.”
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