22/07/2016 00:05
Czech veterans steal the show at Vaduz Satellite
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellite - Vaduz
Vaduz, Liechtenstein, July 21, 2016. The 2016 edition of the CEV Satellite in Vaduz continued on Thursday with the first and second round of the women’s Main Draw and with the men playing for a spot in the Main Draw which is set to start on Friday. The weather conditions were just perfect even though the forecasts were not that promising and almost 1,000 fans came together to witness some major surprises.
Three Swiss teams in men’s Main Draw
Switzerland’s no. 1 men’s team Nico Beeler/Alexei Strasser were joined in the Main Draw by another two teams from their country. Adrian Heidrich/Gabriel Kissling and Marco Krattiger/Jonas Kissling moved on to the Main Draw alongside the no. 3 seed of the tournament, Beeler/Strasser, following completion of the qualification round contested on Thursday. Switzerland is the country with the highest number of teams in the Main Draw. Quite surprisingly no German pair made it through the qualification – Bennet Poniewaz, who two years ago reached the Vaduz final with twin brother David, failed to make it through the qualifying rounds together with his new partner Armin Dollinger. The top-seeds of the men’s Main Draw are Austria’s Thomas Kunert and Christoph Dressler.
Top-seeded Dutchwomen live up to expectations, Czech veterans cause sensation
The no. 1 team of the women’s tournament, Rio-bound Sophie van Gestel and Jantine van der Vlist of the Netherlands, have already progressed to the third round after two straight wins on Thursday. The Dutchwomen are using the CEV Satellite in Vaduz to fine tune their preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. In the next round van Gestel and van der Vlist will play Germany’s Lisa Arnholdt and Anni Schumacher.
Switzerland’s second-seeded Nina Betschart and Tanja Hüberli did not have it that easy. They lost their first match to Sarka Nakladalova and Hana Skalnikova of the Czech Republic (19-21, 18-21) as they were not quite able to cope with the experience of their opponents and made a huge number of unforced errors.
Later in the day Nakladalova and Skalnikova added yet another victory to their record when defeating Cornelia Rimser/Katharina Almer in the second round (21-16, 21-17). “We have been playing as a team and helping each other,” the Czechs explained. “On top of this, we played also in the qualification round yesterday and so we already found the rhythm of our game whilst the others got started only today. This has definitely helped us.”
In the next round Nakladalova and Skalnikova (pictured) will contest a Czech derby with Kristyna Kolocova and Michala Kvapilova, the no. 3 seed of the tournament. Kolocova is a 2012 Olympian who finished in fifth place at the London 2012 Games with former partner Marketa Slukova. On Thursday night Kolocova and Kvapilova delivered a real show in their matchup with Switzerland’s Nicole Eiholzer and Dunja Gerson (2-1; 21-17, 21-23, 15-10). Kolocova and Gerson delighted the fans with their spectacular defence actions and as many as 500 spectators were in attendance as the Czech and Swiss teams contributed to a classy final act to cap the second competition day in Vaduz.
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