17/06/2015 16:50
Swiss youngsters Eiholzer and Betschart rock the Beach Arena at Baku 2015
2015 European Games
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 17, 2015. The Baku 2015 European Games are providing the perfect stage for some of Europe’s stars in the making to shine and the Beach Volleyball competition is not an exception to this rule. On Wednesday afternoon and evening, the women resumed playing and completed the pool stage with the eventual winners getting a bye for the first round of the elimination phase. Switzerland’s Nicole Eiholzer and Nina Betschart were among those who succeeded in achieving this feat, something quite remarkable for these young players.
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Eiholzer and Betschart have won a number of medals at European and world level and are known for being a force to reckon with in all age-group Championships. This season they have made their debut at the ‘senior’ level and Baku 2015 represents the next step in their steady development. On Wednesday afternoon they completed pool play with a hard-fought, come-from-behind victory (17-21, 21-19, 15-12) in their matchup with Russia’s Ksenia Dabizha and Yulia Abalakina, two players who have had a very successful season so far with three medals – including two gold – from the EEVZA Beach Volleyball Tour and a silver from last week’s CEV Satellite in Belarus.
Switzerland’s Nina Betschart said after her stellar performance: “Anytime I travel to some major competitions like the FIVB World Tour, it is a source of inspiration and I can learn a lot. This applies also to the other Swiss teams that we train with. We do not see each other as competitors, we rather stick together and are like one big group. I do not have any specific idol but I often end up saying that I wish I would be like one or the other player I see around.”
Partner Nicole Eiholzer adds: “I don’t have any role models. I just want to be myself and play as good as I can.”
The Swiss girls definitely enjoy their experience at the European Games, not only because of the excellent results they have claimed so far. “It is cool to be here. The Games are something really big, they are organised in a very professional way and we are of course very happy to be part of this. This afternoon we had the members of the Swiss beach soccer national team cheering us on from the stands. It’s a nice experience to get to learn about other sports and athletes from your own country that you have never met before,” Betschart stresses. “When someone from Switzerland wins a medal, our Olympic Committee sends an SMS to each member of the delegation, so we can share their joy and get an extra bit of motivation and adrenaline.”
Switzerland has been quite successful in the Games so far and maybe Nicole and Nina would like to contribute to their country’s tally as well. “We take it step by step and try not to think too far ahead,” Eiholzer says. “Our ambition this year was to come closer to the top teams in Switzerland but of course we are determined to perform well here too.” There are currently three teams preparing and working hard to make it to Rio 2016, so Nina and Nicole will have to set their sight on Tokyo 2020.
The mood was totally different for Ksenia Dabizha and Yulia Abalakina who nevertheless are still in the competition as they finished pool play in third place. “We didn’t reach our own expectations today at all. Actually we are very disappointed to represent Russia in this way, with this result,” Dabizha said.
Italy’s Giulia Toti and Laura Giombini also share the same success path of the young Swiss ladies as on Wednesday they cruised to their third straight win in Pool B standing the challenge brought by Diana Zolnercikova and Martina Jakubsova of the Czech Republic (20-22, 21-14, 15-10) to move on straight to the second round of the elimination phase.
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