30/12/2011 16:00
Dutch top duos line up for women's invitational in Aalsmeer
CEV Beach Volleyball Challenger and Satellites
Aalsmeer, Netherlands, December 30, 2011. Only a couple of weeks are left before the start of the CEV indoor Satellite tournament that will take place for the second consecutive year in the city of Aalsmeer. With the event set to run through January 11-15, some of Europe’s best male duos will be joined there by female pairs that will be competing in what the local organizers have christened as “Visade Women’s Invitational”.
Even though the Satellite is addressed only to men’s teams, the organizers have added up to the program also this competition whereby some top duos will be able to test their preparations for the Olympic year. The prelims will take place on Tuesday and Friday, January 12-13, while the finals are set for the weekend.
Three duos have been directly advanced to the final stage of the competition, namely local heroines Sanne Keizer/Marleen van Iersel and Merel Mooren/Jantine van der Vlist, plus Belgium’s Liesbeth Mouha and Katrin Gielen. Three more Dutch duos will join a round robin to determine the last team qualifying for the semis.
Keizer/van Iersel are certainly the headliners of the event after a splendid 2011 season that included two wins in the SWATCH FIVB World Tour. After such international breakthrough, these two players have set the London Olympics as their highest priority for the 2012 season. Keizer and van Iersel were recently in Aalsmeer and at the venue of the CEV Satellite, to attend a clinic with Samsung Mobile (see picture).
Mooren/van der Vlist represent the local “Beach Team Aalsmeer” and are still targeting a spot to join the starting field of the Olympic Games in London.
After ending her partnership with Liesbet van Breedam, Belgium’s Liesbeth Mouha teamed up in 2011 with Katrin Gielen and the two eventually finished their first campaign together with good results, including a series of fifth places (European Championship Final in Kristiansand, FIVB Grand Slam in Moscow and Phuket Open in Thailand).
After this first test with the “Visade Invitational”, the organizers in Aalsmeer hope to get the right to organize an official Satellite event also for the ladies in the near future.
Additional information about the event, including tickets, is available at www.beach.nl
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