02/09/2015 09:48
Spectacular start for home heroes in Larnaka
2015 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship
Larnaka, Cyprus, September 2, 2015. Cyprus couldn’t have imagined a better start to the 2015 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship. Home heroes Georgios Crysostomou and Pantelis Christidis caused a major upset winning by 2-0 (21-16, 26-24) against the Swedes Jacob Link and Jakob Molin, considered by many as the strongest team in Pool A.
“We believed that we could win this match when talking amongst ourselves last night. The fact that we were not favourites enabled us to play without any pressure, especially in the first set. Things really got tougher in the second set, especially in the latter stages, where we missed six match points,” said Christidis.
“We are really pleased with our performance. This was an unexpected win only for those who were outside the team. We knew our capabilities, and we also knew how good our opponents were. The support of the crowd carried us through where we really needed them,” he added referring to the end of the match where the Swedish pair played much better.
In the other Pool A match, played in the adjacent court 4, Iason Kanellos and Leonidas Sakkas from Greece won against the Israeli pair of Amit Masuri and Shani Cohen 2-0 (21-11, 21-17), giving the home crowd something else to cheer about.
Vasiliki Chatzikonstanta and Katerina Zakchaiou couldn’t emulate their male compatriots, losing relatively easy to the Austrians Katharina Holzer and Nikolina Maros 0-2 (14-21, 16-21). The two Viktoryias from Belarus, Shalayeuskaya and Siakretava won the other Pool A match against Aleyna Vence and Yaren Balaban from Turkey, which proved a one-sided affair (21-6, 21-15).
You can follow the competition also on social media with the official hashtag #EuroBeachVolleyU20
Click here for more info including entry lists, results, pictures and much more
|