24/08/2013 20:00
Greece and Ukraine on route to Continental Cup finals
CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup - Zonal Phase
Rhodes, Greece, August 24, 2013. The teams from Greece and Ukraine opened on Saturday their quest for a spot in the final stage of the CEV Youth Continental Cup by scoring very convincing victories as they played their opponents from Albania and Cyprus. The first and second-ranked sides at the end of the tournament taking place this weekend on the island of Rhodes will advance to the finals of the Continental Cup coming up next year where six slots will be at stake to eventually represent Europe at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, China.
Ukraine’s Oleg Plotnytskiy and Dmytro Kanaiev easily downed Cyprus Charalampos Zorpis and Georgios Chrysostomou in straight sets (21-14, 21-12) to open the boys’ competition. “We are very happy with this good start. Tomorrow we will play Greece for first place in the group and our goal is to advance to the next phase” they said after their game.
Greece’s Georgios Kampouris/Georgios Anastasiadis also needed only two sets to power past Krist Martiro and Osman Qepa of Albania (21-11, 21-12) to play Ukraine for first place in the Pool. “Though our opponents were very tall, they looked hesitant and so we could set the pace of the game” the home heroes commented. “Everything looked easy but tomorrow we need to step up to beat the Ukrainians”.
Greece’s Myrsini Vakalopoulou and Tatiana Moldovanidi opened the girls’ competition by routing Cyprus Erika Zempyla and Zoi Konstantopoulou with a double 21-14 registering 8 aces on their way to that speedy win. “We were very concentrated from the start up to the end and even though we made some mistakes, this was quite a good performance” they said. “Tomorrow we will go for a second victory in order to make it to the finals”.
To round out the program on Saturday at Kalipateira Sports Complex, Ukraine’s Alina Demydova and Darya Udovenko downed Albania’s Adelajda Bërboti/Medlina Shahini 21-7, 21-6 in only 19 minutes to get the right to play Greece for first place in the Pool. “We are satisfied with the result and we will now rest in order to be well ready for our match against Greece” the Ukrainians said.
The competition will resume on Sunday at noon with Greece and Ukraine playing for first place in both genders; the winners will automatically qualify for the finals of the Continental Cup while the losers will get a second chance playing the winner of the clash starring Cyprus and Albania.
Click here for more info
|