18/06/2015 19:36
Azerbaijan’s medal hopes vanish after tie-break loss to Italian ladies
2015 European Games
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 18, 2015. Azerbaijan’s hopes to go for a medal in the women’s Beach Volleyball competition of the first ever European Games vanished on Thursday night at the end of a dramatic match which lasted for three sets and where Vivian Da Conceicão Cunha and Zinaida Liubymova played with glowing hearts but eventually had to admit defeat (21-17, 17-21, 11-15) to Italy’s Giulia Toti and Laura Giombini. The ‘Azzurre’ are now through to the quarterfinals where they will be playing Rimke Braakman and Jolien Sinnema of the Netherlands.
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The next-to-last match on schedule on Thursday night at the majestic Beach Arena in Baku was the real highlight of the day, at least for the home fans since Cunha and Liubymova were carrying the last hopes of Azerbaijan to make an impact on this competition. The local heroines started the match in the best way claiming the opening set but Toti/Giombini were able to fight their way back in the second and opened the tie-break with a 4:0 rush. A series of long and exciting rallies marked the final set of this dramatic match where Cunha and Liubymova were enthusiastically cheered on by tens of Flamekeepers, the always-smiling volunteers of the Baku 2015 European Games. Still, right by the time the home team had cut their deficit to only one point, the Italians broke away once more and could hold on to their lead to cash a ticket to the quarterfinals.
“We are very excited and absolutely pleased with our performance,” Laura Giombini said. “I do not think that the pressure was on their shoulders since they had such great audience behind their back and if I had the chance to play in such ambiance and with that same kind of support, I would not feel any pressure but would rather get an extra boost of adrenaline and energy. This is only our second tournament together, we started playing with Giulia only two weeks ago and we have had little time to work and to train, but we keep on improving match after match and everything has been going really well so far.”
Giombini and Toti made their debut as a team in Barcelona where they finished in second place in a WEVZA zonal event behind a Dutch team, van Gestel and van der Vlist, which lost earlier in the evening. “It’s a great experience, we feel like being part of one big family and even though we do not necessarily know the athletes representing Italy in the other sports, we support each other a lot, even just with a smile,” Toti said. “Personally I feel honoured to be wearing this shirt and to represent Italy at these Games, but at the same time it is also a responsibility because we want to do well for our country.”
“I did not really check the draw and do not know who we are playing next,” Giombini added. “I know now that we are set to take on the Dutch team; they certainly are a good tandem but we will prepare as good as we can and we are determined to continue our campaign and achieve even more than we have done so far.”
Earlier in the evening Austria’s Katharina Schützenhöfer and Lena Plesiutschnig caused quite a sensation with their 2:1 win (21-18, 20-22, 15-13) over pre-favourites Sophie van Gestel and Jantine van der Vlist of the Netherlands to make the quarterfinals of the competition, a remarkable achievement for these young players who back in 2011 were crowned U20 European champions in Tel Aviv, Israel.
“We are so happy that we finally beat them. We were really fighting for every ball and never gave up,” said Lena Plesiutschnig.
“We wanted to show them that we are a strong team that really can make an impact on this competition and we served really well against them,” said partner Katharina Schützenhöfer.
“We were very tired this morning. The preparation for this match was not the best. I think we slept for four hours because we came back so late last night,” Lena Plesiutschnig added. “After lunch we had one hour sleep at the village and that really helped. Our coaches had prepared all the statistics and tactics for the game so we only had to follow their plan,” stressed Katharina Schützenhöfer with a big smile.
About the upcoming match with Russia’s Maria Prokopeva and Ekaterina Syrtseva – who stamped a 2:0 win over Finland’s Riikka Lehtonen and Taru Lahti – and where a spot in the semis of the first ever European Games will be at stake Plesiutschnig said: “We will do our best and will try to focus on our own game. Every team here is really strong and you really have to focus on what you have to do. We will definitely try to win more matches.”
“We are not used to these conditions like the heat and the strong sun. We prefer to play late in the afternoon or in the evening. Then the conditions are more human, so to speak”, said partner Schützenhöfer.
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