12/09/2014 21:02
Home heroines Borger and Büthe leave their mark on a wet day in Stuttgart
2014 CEV Beach Volleyball Satellites - Stuttgart
Stuttgart, Germany, September 12, 2014. Though rain poured down almost all day long at the venue of the CEV Satellite tournament in Stuttgart, this did not prevent the participating teams from showcasing their skills to an audience that follow the matches on schedule for the main draw with much excitement and anticipation. The competition features 16 teams per gender and actions got started on Friday with the first rounds of matches.
Though the weather was not ideal, international referee José Reyes from Switzerland seemed not that bothered: “What do they have to complain here? At the Grand Slam we organised this year in Gstaad it also rained all day long and the temperatures went down to 6C, and here it is at least quite mild.”
Home heroines Karla Borger and Britta Büthe – the silver medallists from last year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship in Stare Jablonki, Poland – also did not seem too concerned about the weather as they opened the programme on the centre court at 9 am. They looked solid as a rock as they easily claimed their match with Latvia’s youngsters Tina Graudina and Marta Ozolina in three straight sets (15-8, 15-11, 15-9) in a game that lasted for only 22 minutes.
Lars Lückemeier, another player who lives and trains at the Olympic Training Centre in Stuttgart – which is also the venue of the Satellite tournament – celebrated his international debut with a victory alongside Bennet Poniewaz whose regular partner and twin brother David had to withdraw due to illness. Bennet Poniewaz and Lars Lückemeier were extremely happy with their hard-fought 3:2 victory (8-15, 17-15, 16-18, 15-13, 13-11) over U23 world champions Maciej Kosiak and Maciej Rudol of Poland. Their success story continued later in the afternoon as Lückemeier and Poniewaz claimed another 3:2 victory, this time against Austrians Thomas Kunert and Christoph Dressler (15-11, 9-15, 15-13, 10-15, 7-5).
The first day of main draw action was marked by many close and exciting matches. “If you check the results and the duration of the matches, it looks like Karla Borger/Britta Büthe are the dominant force here at the CEV Satellite Stuttgart,” said Competitions Director Andreas Burk. Karla and Britta did indeed not drop a set in their matches as they stamped another 3:0 also in their second outing of the day when opposed to France’s Mélinda Adelin and Laura Longuet (15-6, 15-8, 15-10).
The weather conditions remained very demanding throughout the whole day and the organisers distributed hot wine punch and tea to the brave spectators following the matches from the stands. The matches initially scheduled for 7 pm on Friday were postponed to Saturday morning as rain continued to pour down and temperatures had fallen down.
The actions will resume on Saturday morning as early as at 8 am on three different courts with all matches played on centre court and court 2 streamed live and for free at LAOLA1.tv The real climax of the day will come later in the afternoon with the women’s semi-final matches that will precede the much anticipated players’ party.
Click here for more information or visit the official website www.stuttgart-beach-open.de
|