05/09/2015 21:12
Injury gives Norway the gold medal at #EuroBeachVolleyU20
2015 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship
Larnaka, Cyprus, September 5, 2015. The Norwegians Anders Berntsen Mol and Mathias Berntsen are celebrating tonight after winning the gold medal, but the real winner in the 2015 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship was the fair play that the Scandinavian players and his partner Arnaud Loiseau observed when they carried the unfortunate Arnaud Gauthier-Rat to the winners’ podium with his chair. This is something that we rarely see in any sporting event.
The final was overshadowed by the injury to the French player early in the second set. Gauthier-Rat in an unsuspected point twisted his knee, and as a result the match ended abruptly. Just for the history books, the first set was won by Norway 21-18. The eventual winners led 3-0 in the second set when the injury occurred.
“Having won the first set and leading at the beginning of the second, we were looking forward for the match to finish in our favour, but it was not meant to be this way. All the best to Arnaud! As athletes we are accustomed to injuries, but the fact that he sustained the injury during the final is so unfortunate,” said Anders Berntsen Mol.
Having played so well in the semi-final with Finland’s Siren/Määttänen, the French had high expectations going into the final, but they had the misfortune of losing one of their star players through injury. “As we all know, injuries can happen at any time. I don’t know if it was because Arnaud gave everything in the previous matches and maybe he caused a problem to his knee,” said Loiseau.
Mission accomplished at the final hurdle for Oleh Plotnytskyi and Illia Kovalov, after winning the bronze medal in the 2015 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship. The Ukrainians came to Larnaka with only one thing on their minds – to win a medal, and they succeeded in achieving this goal as they beat the surprise package of the tournament, the Finns Santeri Siren and Miro Määttänen 2-0 (21-17, 21-13).
“Losing to the Norwegians in the semis was very disappointing for us both and our coach. But, that match finished, it was history. We had another chance today to redeem ourselves and get a medal, after last year we won the silver medal in the FIVB U19 World Championship,” Plotnytskyi said.
Illia Kovalov had this to add: “Maybe we were thinking about the final too much, and this cost us in the end. We did not repeat the same mistakes we did in the semi-final, so it was much easier to win this game.”
You can follow the competition also on social media with the official hashtag #EuroBeachVolleyU20
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