02/09/2016 12:44
Eight up-and-coming teams progress to CEV Satellite Skopje Main Draw
2016 CEV Satellite - Skopje
Skopje, Former Y.R. of Macedonia, September 2, 2016. The 2016 CEV Satellite in Skopje started on Thursday with the qualification round. At the end of a busy day in the Macedonian capital, eight teams progressed to the Main Draw of the tournament that will continue through the end of the weekend. CEV President Aleksandar Boričić is set to attend the opening ceremony that will follow on Friday night.
Germany’s Anni Schumacher and Lisa Arnholdt lived up to their status of top-seeded team in the qualification by stamping a 21-15, 21-15 victory over Belgian newcomers Julie De Beule and Leen van Grinsven.
Bulgaria’s Irena Mishonova and Svetla Angelova upset Dutchwomen Annemieke Driessen and Ilke Meertens – bronze medallists from last week’s CEV Satellite in Kisakallio, Finland – cruising to a 21-14, 23-21 victory in 34 minutes. The Bulgarians imposed their rule in the first set with solid blocking and consistent reception before the second set was a lot closer, but luck was on the Bulgarian side of the net in the end.
Elisabeth Klopf and Eva Freiberger of Austria prevented a second Bulgarian team from progressing to the Main Draw by cruising to a 21-14, 21-16 win in their matchup with Asya Dinova and Diana Malinova.
Germany qualified a second team to the Main Draw as Sandra Ittlinger and Yanina Weiland stamped a 21-12, 22-20 win against France’s Alexia Richard and Lézana Placette. Ittlinger and Weiland finished fourth last week at the CEV Kisakallio Satellite while Richard and Placette lost the bronze medal match as well but at the U22 European Championship in Thessaloniki, Greece. The Germans dominated the early stages of the match and used their experience to claim a close second set. Earlier in the day Ittlinger and Weiland had won a country quota match with Katarina Schillerwein and Cinja Tillmann (16-21, 21-17, 15-13).
The silver medallists from the Kisakallio Satellite, Magdalena Dostalova and Karolina Rehackova of the Czech Republic, continued their display of fine form stamping a 21-8, 21-13 victory over their countrywomen Petra Kopecka and Miroslava Liskova.
Greece’s Ioanna Parisaki and Dimitra Manavi claimed the only match of the day that lasted for three sets. They lost 17-21 the first set to Denmark’s Cecilie Køllner Olsen/Laerke Mygind Grønfeldt, before they started playing better to win a close second one by 21-19. The Danes kind of collapsed in the third set with Manavi/Parisaki celebrating a scintillating 15-3 win.
Ida Sinisalo and Niina Ahtiainen of Finland upset a second Danish tandem with a double 21-17 in their matchup with Helle Søndergård and Simone Marie Okholm.
Beata Vaida and Adriana-Maria Matei, who earlier this summer made it to the quarter-finals of the U21 World Championship in Lucerne, complete the teams that progressed to the Main Draw. They defeated Nazmie Ibrahimi and Vildane Jashari (21-16, 21-14) who by competing in Skopje became the first ever Beach Volleyball team from Kosovo to play in a CEV-sanctioned event.
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Picture: CEV Technical Supervisor Tosho Stoyanov and the Secretary General of the Volleyball Federation of the Former Y.R. of Macedonia, Zoran Karanovic address the media on the eve of the opening day of the CEV Satellite in Skopje
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