Matosinhos, Portugal, June 7, 2014.  The European Qualification Tournament for the 2014 FIVB U17 World Championship resumed today at Praia de Matosinhos. Under improved weather conditions, the young athletes were able to show fantastic moments that only beach volleyball can provide.  The players showed some great performances today and the spectators could watch a good spectacle of beach volleyball.

Eventually teams from the Nethrelands, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Russia qualified for tomorrow’s semifinals, while all other duos were distributed into various other classification brackets.

The Dutch team Nika Daalderop / Susanne Kos continued its victory streak by winning against the French team Coralie Viale / Ines Ben Jaddiby by 2:0 (21-15, 21-10) in elimination Round 2.

The team from Russia Elizaveta Zayonchkovskaya / Yulia Smirnova has won both its Saturday matches before making it to the semis, first against the Spain’s Clara Barcelo Puchulutegui / Marina Balasch Antolin by 2:0 (21-8, 21-8) in Pool B and then against Italy’s Reka Orsi Toth / Silvia D'Este by 2:1 (16-21, 21-11, 16-14) in the quarterfinals.

Czech Republic’s Natalie Honzovicova / Tereza Pluharova, who had finished second in their pool after a 2:0 (21-10, 21-16) over Turkey’s Duygu Nur Dogan / Pelin Ilgin this morning, then had to go through both an eighthfinal win by 2:0 (21-14, 21-11) over the Spanish duo and a quarterfinal victory over Latvia’s Tina Graudina / Linda Elizabete Gramberga by 2:1 (21-15, 19-21, 15-13) to qualify among the top four.

The first Portuguese team Beatriz Lacerda / Margarida Vasques defeated Greeks Paraskevi Kourtidou / Maria Klepkou by 2:1 (21-13, 15-21, 15-8) in the first elimination round and Poland’s Martyna Kloda / Monika Warczyglowa by 2:0 (21-18, 21-13).

The two semifinals on Sunday morning will feature clashes between the Netherlands and the Czech Republic and between Portugal and Russia.

All of these countries have already secured their spots in World Championship main draw.  Two more will join them as the winners of the Semifinals 5-8, in which France faces Latvia and Poland encounters Italy.  The other two countries will also earn quotas for Mexico, but in the qualification tournament in Acapulco to accompany the Greek duo, as well as England’s Anaya Evans / Yasmin Kaashoek, who will play each other for the ninth place in Matosinhos.  The final European spot in Acapulco’s qualifications will be taken by the winner of the final for the 11th place between the Spanish pair and Serbia’s Irena Drobnjak / Tijana Basic.

“We played much better than yesterday, more focused and we actually think we played well, but we did not give it all to win,” concluded the young Portuguese team Ines Castro / Pinheiro Beatriz regarding its last match in the pool today, which left them fourth and out of contention.  “I have never played beach volleyball at this level, I am just starting, and looking at this I think it has been a great experience for me,” said Ines.

The team from Israel Michal Barannik / Shachar Nelken lost their three matches, but nevertheless said:  “We are a bit downbeat for losing the three matches, but beach volleyball in Israel is slowly improving.  We have only started training for this event two weeks ago, but we already have an academy in our country with many young people playing.  Besides, we have good weather conditions and so we can only improve.”  Concerning this tournament, they have no doubts:  “We really enjoyed, learned a lot due to the high level of the competition and for us, the best teams are the Russians and Dutch.”

In England, Beach Volleyball is still getting on its feet and Yasmin Kaashoek, who has double nationality, English and Dutch, plays indoor volleyball during the fall and winter and beach volleyball during the spring and summer:  “I can see beach volleyball is growing in England as there are many youngsters starting to play early.  We have some academies and people are looking for them in order to start playing volleyball.” Regarding this tournament, the English teen is very pleased:  “I find this tournament fantastic, with very good conditions and it is my first competition in beach volleyball at this level.  It is a great experience for me.  Some teams here are very good, but there are also a few teams that must train a bit more and harder.”