09/09/2015 16:06
Ashdod welcomes historic Olympic qualifying event on Israeli soil
2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup - Men & Women
Ashdod, Israel, September 9, 2015. A press conference was organised on Wednesday in Ashdod only 48 hours away from the Round 4 tournament that this city will be hosting later this week – on Friday and Saturday – for the next-to-last stage of the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup. The Israeli players set to carry the hopes of the host country in the competition were all in attendance together with their coaches and representatives of the Israel Volleyball Association.
“We have the privilege to host an Olympic qualifying event and this is a great opportunity for us to draw people’s attention to Beach Volleyball,” said the Vice President of the Israel Volleyball Association, Dr Arie Locker. “I would like to thank the Ashdod Municipality for their support in hosting this tournament. I wish the best of luck to our men’s and women’s national teams and hope many fans will come to visit the venue, this way being a part of a successful event.”
“I feel very excited as this Olympic qualifying event is being held in our city,” said Mickey Rosenberg, the Director of the Sports Department in Ashdod. “This is a real privilege for myself and also for the mayor of Ashdod. We are now hoping that our teams will be successful in their home campaign.”
“This is the next-to-last stage of the competition and it will determine which teams can continue to chase a spot to make it to next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. This has been our dream for many years already but this home tournament here in Israel won’t be an easy one as we will be playing some strong teams. I invite the fans to come out and visit the venue, we need their extra boost of energy,” said Israel’s coach Shaked Haimy.
Sean Faiga and partner Ariel Hilman are Israel’s top team and they have been competing internationally for quite a few seasons already. “We have been working really hard to get ready for this moment and for us it is really important to win the semi for Portugal in order to fight for first place in the pool and get a spot in the next and final stage of the Continental Cup,” they said.
“This tournament is part of a long process whose ultimate goal is to develop a strong national team and to make the next stage of this competition would be quite an achievement for us,” said the mentor of Israel’s women’s pairs, Ohad Redko.
“It feels great to be here and to be involved in such a tournament,” said CEV Technical Supervisor Pier Paolo Murgioni of Italy. “I wish the best of luck to all teams and hope that the competition will be played in a spirit of fair play.”
The worldwide known speaker and announcer Luis Torres has also travelled to Israel to work for the tournament taking place in Ashdod. “I am happy to be back and it’s great to hear that we can expect a lot of good matches for the coming days, this is an extra boost of motivation for me as well.”
The venue set up in Ashdod for the Continental Cup includes two courts and another two for the warm-up, tribunes seating up to 500 fans, a players’ and fans’ area and much more. The competition will be played according to the ‘country vs. country’ format, and in case of a tie after two matches, the respective coaches can decide to mix up their pairs before the so-called ‘golden match’ decides the eventual winner of the clash. The first and second placed teams at the end of the tournament will progress to the Continental Cup Finals which are due to take place next year. Israeli teams never competed at the Olympics before and therefore the chase of this dream is something special for the home heroes and heroines.
Israel will line up Sean Faiga/Ariel Hilman and Netanel Ohana/Alon Sanderovich in the men’s competition whilst Alona Cherkez/Einav Muharer and Yael Yellin/Jennifer Guz are set to carry the hopes of the host country in the women’s tournament. The men will be taking on Portugal in the semis – following Azerbaijan’s withdrawal from the competition – whilst Belgium and Estonia will be clashing for the other spot in the ‘big final’. Poland, Slovakia and Norway complete the field of the women’s competition.
Israel’s Olympic Beach Volleyball project started two years ago and involves the men’s pairs Faiga/Hilman and Ohana/Sanderovich. Faiga and Hilman have regularly competed on the international stage and they have achieved quite some good results which are especially remarkable for players who have focussed entirely on Beach Volleyball since two years only. Faiga and Hilman delivered a good performance also at the Baku 2015 European Games last June where they made the quarterfinals losing only to eventual gold medal winners Martins Plavins and Haralds Regza of Latvia. As for Ohana and Sanderovich, last year they claimed ninth place at the U23 World Championship in Myslowice, Poland.
As for the women, Yael Yellin and Jennifer Guz performed also in Round 3 of the Continental Cup last May in Montpellier, France and a few weeks ago made history by becoming Israel’s first female team to make the main draw of a CEV event when they did so at the Satellite tournament held in Timisoara, Romania.
Click here for further information on the 2014-2016 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup
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