18/06/2014 15:48
CEV Continental Cup gains momentum with another four events this weekend
2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup - Men & Women
Luxembourg, June 18, 2014. After the first event held last weekend in Portoroz where Belgium and Norway shared the top positions of the final standing in both the men’s and women’s competition, the 1st Round of the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup will continue this coming weekend with another four tournaments whose winners and runner-ups will proceed straight to the 3rd Round scheduled for next year. Teams missing out on the first and second spot of the charts will re-start their campaign for a spot in the Beach Volleyball tournament of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro with the 2nd Round coming up later this summer.
The 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup has already written history right from the start, with a record-breaking number of 44 participating countries, including 10 that are making their debut this year on that stage after missing the inaugural edition leading up to the 2012 Olympics in London. Five of these rookies – Albania, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Ireland, and San Marino – will be in action this coming weekend as the Continental Cup stops in Baku (AZE), Kardzhali (BUL), Bournemouth (ENG), and Schinias (GRE).
Switzerland’s men and Sweden’s women are the clear-cut favourite for the top position in Pool D whose matches will be hosted in one of England’s most popular seaside resorts, the city of Bournemouth. The hopes of the host country will heavily rely on Zara Dampney, who alongside Shauna Mullin represented Team GB at the London Olympics. Mullin competed for Scotland last week in Portoroz and Dampney will this time team up with another 2012 Olympian, indoor player Savanah Leaf. Sweden will line up two experienced duos, Nina Grawender/Karin Lundqvist and Camilla Nilsson/Tadva Yoken, who have some experience also from the World Tour. In the men’s competition, though they won’t travel to England with their best duos, the Swiss are certainly the “hottest” contender for first place in the group.
The city of Baku, a well-known Volleyball “Mecca”, will host a first international Beach Volleyball tournament this weekend at the “Heyat” Rest Area. The relatively unknown teams from the host country will test the likes of pairs from Turkey, Israel, and Ukraine, whose line-up includes, inter alia, Sergiy Popov, a former multiple medallist from various age-group World and European Championships.
Teams from five different countries – Greece, Belarus, Romania, San Marino and Malta – will be in action in Schinias, a suburb of Athens that rose to international fame while hosting some events of the 2004 Olympics and which is the venue of Pool E. The tournament will mark the comeback of 2012 European silver medallist Maria Tsiartsiani, who is returning from injury and will be playing again with former partner and double European champion Vassiliki Arvaniti. In the men’s competition, home heroes Nikos Zoupanis and Georgios Kotsilianos will get to test the skills of two up-and-coming duos from Belarus, Aliaksandr Dziadkou/Aliaksandr Kavalenka and Anton Dedkov/Anton Sinhayeuski. San Marino’s men will celebrate their Continental Cup premiere in Greece hoping to get some valuable experience ahead of the Games of the Small States of Europe coming up next year in Iceland and in 2017 in their home country.
The last tournament on schedule for the coming weekend will be taking place in Bulgaria, and namely in the city of Kardzhali, where the home teams will be playing pairs from Albania, Finland, and neighbouring Serbia. The major attraction of the tournament will be the Nyström twins, Erika (see picture) and Emilia, who this year have already medalled twice on the European circuit winning bronze at the CEV Satellite in Antalya and also at the Baden Masters in Austria. Finland’s second female team will also be one to watch out for since former Volleyball star Riikka Lehtonen has now switched to the sand in an attempt to make the 2016 Olympics together with her young partner Taru Lahti, who just finished fourth at the FIVB U23 World Championship in Myslowice, Poland.
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