29/08/2014 17:07
Latvia’s youngsters continue to impress on home sand
2014 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellites - Jurmala
Jurmala, Latvia, August 29, 2014. The CEV Satellite tournament in Jurmala – Latvia’s most popular seaside resort – continued on Friday with the qualification round that was joined by teams from Belgium, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, the Netherlands, Russia, and Turkey, all fighting for a highly coveted spot in the main draw.
Another four teams – Austria’s Daniel Müllner/Jörg Wutzl and Thomas Kunert/Christoph Dressler as well as Israel’s Ariel Hilman/Sean Faiga and France’s Yannick Salvetti/Jean-Baptiste Daguerre – all got a bye to move on straight to the next round of the competition.
Russia’s vice-champions Alexander Likholetov and Ruslan Dayanov opened the programme on the centre court by cruising to a speedy straight-set win over Israel’s Alon Sanderovich and Netanel Amiram Ohana (15-13, 15-9, 15-13). All matches of the CEV Satellite in Jurmala are being played in a best-of-five format, similarly to all other CEV Satellites organised this year with the only exception being the event held in Vaduz earlier this month.
Russian teams continued their show of strength on Majori beach in Jurmala as Yury Bogatov and Maksim Khudyakov emulated their countrymen by recording another straight victory over Dutchmen Wouter van Gilst and Bas Verpoorten (15-7, 15-6, 15-3).
Turkey’s Murat Giginoglu and Volkan Gögtepe also moved on to the main draw starting on Saturday as they outclassed Belgium’s Dries Koekelkoren and Robin Adriaensen in three sets as well (15-9, 15-10, 15-7).
The most anticipated match of the second day starred home heroes Armands Abolins and Haralds Regza, two former medallists from the CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship who on Thursday had upset their more illustrious and decorated countryman and 2012 Olympian, Ruslans Sorokins. Abolins and Regza continued with their spectacular performance on the white sand of Jurmala as they easily edged past their neighbours from Estonia, Maksim Petrov and Aleksei Povjakel, in three consecutive sets (15-13, 15-6, 19-17).
The 16-team main draw of the CEV Satellite in Jurmala is now complete and will feature four pairs from the host country, three from Russia and Austria, two from France, plus one duo from Belarus, Estonia, Israel, and Turkey.
A very long day will get started on Saturday morning with the first matches scheduled for 9 am local time. An impressive 2,000-seat stadium has been set up right by the Baltic Sea and the weather forecasts are pretty encouraging for the coming weekend, so everyone is looking forward to a couple of days blessed with a great atmosphere, world-class matches and plenty of attractions and side activities organised by the sponsors and partners of the tournament.
The matches scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, August 30 and 31, are available for broadcast on the website http://m.lmt.lv/volejbols
All matches up to the semis to be played on Saturday and Sunday on the centre court will be streamed live and for free also on Sportacentrs.com TV whereas the semi-final and final matches will be broadcast live on TV6
Click here for more information or visit the official website http://jurmala.beachvolley.lv
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