15/06/2012 21:00
Uncle and nephew carry Croatian hopes in Umag
CEV Beach Volleyball Challenger & Satellites
Umag, Croatia, June 15, 2012. The Main Draw of the CEV Satellite in Umag got started on Friday but that was not a lucky day for the home duos as the three pairs representing the host country all lost their opening matches.
While Mario Boras/Ivan Zeljkovic and Kresimir Peric/Darko Nojic are already out of contention, Niksa Dellorco/Pero Krizanovic can still make it to the semifinals if they claim their next four games after they powered past Florian Schnetzer/Tobias Koraimann of Austria in their second match of the day. This is a very interesting combination as Dellorco is only 20 and playing his first season on international stage, while Krizanovic (36) is not just relying on his experience, but also on family bonds, since he is Dellorco’s uncle! “This is our first international tournament together and hence we did not play that well in our opening match” said Krizanovic after losing to Murat Giginoglu and Hakan Gögtepe of Turkey. “Nevertheless I still think that we have the necessary quality and we are strongly motivated to make it to the semifinals”.
Turkey’s duos caught an excellent start of their campaign in Umag, as Giginoglu/Gögtepe scored two wins on Friday while their compatriots Selcuk Sekerci/Volkan Gögtepe opened by downing in straight sets Kees Spil and Joppe Paulides of the Netherlands.
Two teams from Switzerland also advanced to round III after claiming a couple of wins on Friday. Gabriel Kissling/Jan Schnider needed two close sets (22-20, 21-19) to finally edge Jonas Kvalen and Svein Solhaug of Norway while their compatriots Mirco Gerson/Philip Gabathuler seized the Swiss derby with Rafael Bissig/Bernhard Beyeler in straight sets (21-17, 21-16).
One of the longest matches of the day in Umag opposed Ruslan Bykanov/Pavel Karpukhin to Jan Dumek/Martin Tichy with the guys from Russia eventually getting the upper hand after 51 minutes of play (22-20, 18-21, and 15-12). In the second round Poland’s Losiak/Kantor edged Bulgaria’s Neshev/Dimov in straight sets (21-17, 21-16) while Germany’s Dollinger/Stiel needed three sets before they eventually got past Austria’s Hupfer/Leeb (21-16, 18-21, and 15-11).
The Austrian crew could nevertheless be happy with the performance delivered by Thomas Kunert and Lorenz Petutschnig – semifinalists from the CEV Satellite held in Baden some three weeks ago – who stormed back after losing the opening set to eventually beat Kufa/Hadrava of the Czech Republic (17-21, 21-19, and 15-12).
The grid for the semifinals will be determined on Saturday, with semis and finals scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
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