06/06/2016 00:52
Biel / Bienne hands over to Jurmala – Get ready for the 2017 edition of #EuroBeachVolley!
2016 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Final
Biel / Bienne, Switzerland, June 5, 2016. The 2016 edition of the CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship Final came to a close on Sunday afternoon with Germany’s Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst and Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo standing on top of the podium on the shores of Lake Biel. Though the celebrations for the newly crowned European champions drew the curtains at the end of a busy and exciting week, Europe’s Beach Volleyball fans can already start looking forward to the 2017 edition of #EuroBeachVolley, which will be taking place in Jurmala and Riga, Latvia, on the third week of August.
On Sunday a small ceremony was organised in Biel / Bienne, where the Swiss organisers kind of passed the baton on to their Latvian counterparts represented – inter alia – by the President of the Latvian Volleyball Federation (LVF), Mr Atis Sausnitis, and the Vice Mayor of Jurmala, Mrs Rita Sproge.
A Latvian delegation including CEV and LVF Vice President Maris Pekalis, LVF Secretary General Ainars Daksa and many others spent a few days in Biel / Bienne to get some more insights on the organisation of this year’s European Championship and learn from the success story delivered by the Swiss Organising Committee and Tournament Director, Sascha Heyer.
The city of Jurmala already has its own place on Europe’s Beach Volleyball map after successfully hosting a CEV Satellite in 2014 and a men-only Masters in 2015. Later this summer Jurmala will be playing host to a double-gender Masters, the second stop of this year’s European Championship, in what will be a perfect rehearsal ahead of next year’s major highlight.
It’s not a secret that Beach Volleyball has been booming in Latvia after Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins claimed a historic bronze medal at the London 2012 Olympics. After that, Smedins teamed up with Aleksandrs Samoilovs, a native of Jurmala, to win three European Championship medals – silver in 2013 and 2014, gold in 2015 and the two will certainly hope to use the home-court advantage to add one extra honour to their resume and delight what is expected to be a sell-out crowd.
“Though we are more than one year away from the championship our preparations are in full swing,” Mr Pekalis said. “We have also disclosed plans to organise pool matches in Riga, which means that the EuroBeachVolley will be brought to the very heart of our country’s capital, thereby providing further exposure to the sport and to the championship as well. There is a lot of excitement for what is going to be one of the most important and largest sporting events ever organised in Latvia and in the Baltic countries and we look forward to welcoming Europe’s Beach Volleyball elite as well as fans from all over Europe!”
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