16/06/2016 19:22
Favourite men’s teams show their strength in Antalya
2016 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championships
Antalya, Turkey, June 16, 2016. On Thursday the 2016 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championships started in the Turkish seaside paradise of Antalya. 32 teams per gender are playing at the beautiful Wow Hotels Kundu venue, under a clear blue sky. In the men’s tournament all the favourite teams lived up to the expectations on the first day.
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The second-seeded Norwegians Aleksander Sandlie Sørum and Anders Berntsen Mol started with a hard-fought victory over the home team of Turkey, Ismail Ayirici/Halil Kargiage. In the afternoon they won their second match by beating Slovenia’s Ziga Kumer/Aleksander Dulai. Anders Berntsen Mol won the gold medal in the 2015 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championships together with his cousin Mathias Berntsen and is defending his title in Antalya.
The Scandinavians will play for the first place in Pool B on Friday against Óscar Jiménez Gutiérrez and Javier Huerta Pastor from Spain. The Spaniards, who won bronze at the 2014 CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championships, also booked two victories on the opening day.
The Ukrainian duo Oleh Plotnytskyi (bronze medal winner from the 2015 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championships) and Tymofii Poluian (silver medallist at the 2015 CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championships) is also a force to be reckoned with. The Beach Volleyball players from Eastern Europe proved their talent by beating Switzerland’s Janis Gysin/Yves Roth 2-0 (21-14, 21-19).
Julius Thole and Sven Winter, the German winners of the 2014 CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championships, were too strong for their opponents from Latvia and Denmark.
The Swiss youngsters Florian Breer and Yves Haussener travelled to Turkey with the motivation to play for the medals again. The Beach Volleyball players from Basel claimed bronze at the 2015 CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championships in Latvia. The Swiss made a flawless start by beating Turkey’s second team Emirhan Ulutas/Hasan Huseyin Yildirim with big numbers (21-4, 21-6).
In Pool D Russia’s Vasilii Ivanov and Aleksandr Kramarenko impressed with their powerful play against Poland’s Maciej Lewicki and Bartlomiej Krzyzanowski. In both sets they kept their opponents under the 10-point bar: 21-9 and 21-8.
On Friday the last pool matches will be played on the beach of Antalya. The knock-out phase will then start on Saturday.
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