06/08/2015 19:04
CEV U18 European Championships begins with huge heat wave and exciting matches
2015 CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championship
Riga, Latvia, August 6, 2015. The thermometer in Riga hit almost 30 degrees Celsius today, and during this first real heat wave of the summer, new Beach Volleyball players entertained couple hundreds of fans all day long.
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The 2015 CEV U18 Beach Volleyball European Championships in Riga is being covered extensively also on Twitter and Facebook with the official hashtag being #EuroBeachVolleyU18
Latvian teams
The biggest ovation at the ‘Beach Box Elkor’ stadium was earned by the home teams, who won two out of three matches. One of the favourite Latvian teams, Mihails Samoilovs and Aleksandrs Nasonovs, easily beat the Croatian team Tino Hanzic/Domagoj Nizic with 2-0 (21-13, 21-9).
After the game Nasonovs said that this was a good warm-up for the upcoming matches. ‘The game was easy and we earned the victory without any major problems. Mihails and I have only one mindset; to win the tournament. We can feel the support and it definitely helps,’ said Nasonovs. Mihails Samoilovs had a special supporter during his first match, because his older brother (the 2015 CEV European champion Aleksandrs) came to watch in person.
Another home team, Atvars Ozolins/Kristaps Smits also earned a victory, by beating Joona Väänänen/Kalle Hietavala from Finland with 2-0 (21-11, 21-14). However, Rihards Lazdins/Ervins Aboms couldn’t please the local fans and lost to Jan Kasan/Jakub Dvorak from the Czech Republic.
Kristaps Smits admitted that he was little nervous before the game, but as the match started this feeling disappeared. ‘We were able to stick to our game and that’s the goal for this tournament; to fulfill our coaches instructions and play as good as we can’, said Smits. ‘It’s nice to play at home and in front of our spectators, because you can feel their support on the court.’
Favourites don’t disappoint
The silver and bronze medallists from last year’s U18 Championship began the tournament convincingly. Adam Lenc/Maciej Lewicki from Poland, who finished second last year beat Viliam Cizmazia/Patrik Pokopec from Slovakia 2-0 (21-15, 21-18).
The bronze medallists from last year, Óscar Jiménez Gutiérrez/Alejandro Huerta Pastor from Spain, crushed the German team Robin Sowa/Simon Kulzer with 2-0 (21-12, 21-13). Besides winning bronze at the European Championship in Kristiansand, last year the Spaniards also conquered silver at the FIVB U17 World Championships in Mexico.
The CEV U18 European champion from last year, Sven Winter from Germany, also earned a victory. Winter is playing together with Milan Sievers this year. The German duo was way too strong (21-9, 21-13) for the Portuguese players Lidio Guedes/Joao Jardim. The FIVB U17 World champions from last year, Florian Breer/Yves Haussener from Switzerland, had no problems against Ofek Berman/Ben Yehuda from Israel (21-9, 21-12).
Tomorrow the men’s teams will play their second and third pool match. The winners of the pools will qualify directly for round two of the elimination phase, the numbers two and three of the pools will enter round one.
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