17/06/2016 16:03
14-year old Tania Moreno Matveeva follows in the footsteps of mum Olga
2016 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship
Antalya, Turkey, June 17, 2016. Most of the participants of the 2016 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship are 18 or 19 years old. Some of the very talented players competing in the Turkish seaside resort of Antalya are a little younger, but one of them stands out: 14-year old Tania Moreno Matveeva from Spain. The daughter of former Beach Volleyball player Olga Matveeva didn’t come to Antalya just for the sake of gaining experience. Together with María Belén Carro Márquez de Acuña (17) she ended on top of Pool A, which means the Spanish girls are directly qualified for the second round of the knock-out phase (last 16).
Click here for further information including detailed results, pictures and much more
Olga Matveeva (40) was born in Russia but received Spanish nationality in 2004. From 2006 until 2012 she played on the CEV and FIVB tour. She participated in two FIVB World Championships, in Gstaad (2007) and in Stavanger (2009). Until last year she was still playing on the Spanish national tour.
After winning her third pool match together with María Carro, Tania spoke about the love for Beach Volleyball she shares with her mother. “When I was younger I often joined my mother on the tour,” she explains. “I learned a lot from watching her play, especially about which attitude is needed on court.”
Nowadays mother Olga is coaching the team of her daughter Tania and María Carro back home in Spain. She is not present at the tournament in Antalya, but she has been well replaced for this occasion. In Turkey, the Spanish girls are being coached by Javier Bosma, who won silver at the 2004 Olympics in Athens together with Pablo Herrera.
Bosma predicts a bright future for Tania and her teammate María Carro. “I selected these girls for this tournament because they are the future of Spanish Beach Volleyball,” the decorated Olympian said after the match. “It is a little surprise for me that they won the first three matches, but they have been playing really well so far.”
In August 2015 mother and daughter Matveeva experienced a special moment together when they teamed up for the Spanish national championship in Fuengirola. They finished the competition in seventh place. It is unlikely that Tania and Olga will play together again in the near future. Tania has a busy summer coming up with her partner María Carro. They will play several more under-age tournaments such as the CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championship in the Czech Republic and the CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship in Greece.
If Tania will play senior World Championships in the future like her mother once did is still unclear, but she is well on her way to getting there. The 14-year old talent is even dreaming of something bigger. “Hopefully I will get the chance to play in the Olympics one day,” she daydreams. “If we continue our careers like this, it should be possible.”
Picture: 14-year-old sensation Tania Moreno Matveeva standing in between her partner María Belén Carro Márquez de Acuña and coach / mentor, 2004 Olympic silver medallist Javier Bosma
|