03/05/2015 21:40
Five teams per gender through to Continental Cup finals!
2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup - Men & Women
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Luxembourg, May 3, 2015. One of the busiest weekends in history for Europe’s Beach Volleyball family came to a close on Sunday night with five teams per gender celebrating their qualification for the final stage of the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup scheduled for next year. All second and third-placed teams from the five 3rd Round events held throughout the past few days move on to the fourth stage of the competition which is due to take place in late August/early September. The programme of the 3rd Round will come to an end next week with another three double gender tournaments taking place in Lorca (ESP), Montpellier (FRA) and Limassol (CYP).
The five countries per gender qualified through to the final are:
Men: Czech Republic, Norway, Germany, Poland, Turkey
Women: Austria, Russia, Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland
If the women’s tournaments did not produce any major sensations, at least as far as the eventual winners of the various pools are concerned, a few surprises were recorded in the men’s competition starting with the setbacks suffered by the home heroes of Austria and by Russia in Baden. The Austrians surprisingly lost 0:2 to the Czech Republic and had to work hard to edge Azerbaijan to finish at least second in Pool A. Russia was sidelined by an injury suffered by Nikita Liamin and in the end this paved the way with gold for the team of Norway, which was helped by the strong performance delivered by the duo comprising of Oivind Hordvik and Morten Kvamsdal. Germany topped the charts of Pool C in Thessaloniki but had to play a ‘golden match’ to get past hosts Greece whilst Poland were on a class of their own in Vilnius where Estonia and Lithuania settled for second and third place, respectively. Turkey caused the other sensation of the day as they exploited the home advantage in Fethiye to upset pre-favourites Latvia whose roster included 2012 Olympic bronze medallists Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins, playing together again for the first time in a couple of years.
As for the women’s competition, Austria delivered a home show in Baden winning four straight matches without dropping a set and the same feat was achieved by Russia who celebrated the comeback from maternity of Ekaterina Khomyakova, now playing under her married name, Birlova. Germany’s top duos were on a class of their own in Thessaloniki and too much to stand also for the extra motivated home teams of Greece whilst the Czech Republic claimed a derby with their neighbours from Slovakia to finish first in Pool F in Vilnius where the home heroines and rising stars of Beach Volleyball, Ieva Dumbauskaite and Monika Povilaityte, were able to fight back to settle for second place after a ‘golden match’ win over Slovakia. Switzerland reigned supreme in Fethiye where they did not drop a set in the four matches they contested.
The 10 teams per gender continuing their journey in the Continental Cup 4th Round are:
Men: Austria, Azerbaijan (from Pool A), Russia, Ukraine (Pool B), Greece, Belarus (Pool E), Estonia, Lithuania (Pool F), Latvia, England (Pool H)
Women: Sweden, Azerbaijan (from Pool A), Ukraine, Scotland (Pool B), Greece, England (Pool E), Lithuania, Slovakia (Pool F), Poland, Belgium (Pool H)
Click here for further information including detailed results, pictures and much more
Picture: Murat Giginoglu was the man of the day for Turkey in their sensational home win over pre-favourite Latvia
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