Alanya, Turkey, July 16, 2017.  Teams from four different countries advanced from the double-gender Pool C event in Alanya to the 2017-2018 CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Final, scheduled for next year. In the women’s competition it was Italy and Romania that took the top two spots in the final standing. On the men’s side, hosts Turkey and Belarus had all the reasons to celebrate at Kleopatra Beach. These four teams will continue to chase their Olympic dreams to become part of the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

The Italian team, consisting of Chiara Mason and Claudia Scampoli, made a perfect run through the women’s competition. They did not lose a single set in their five matches to triumph as pool winners. In the round-robin tournament Italy shut out Romania, Turkey, Belarus and Albania to qualify directly to the final game and secure a spot in the 2018 final round of the competition.

With two victories each from the round robin, Romania and Belarus qualified for the playoff match. Romania’s Alexandra-Mariana Pantiru and Serena-Andreea Grigore came back from a set behind against Anastasiya Hirzhon and Anastasiya Stankevich to claim a 2-1 (22-24, 21-15, 15-11) victory and reach the final.

The Italians topped the final standing by mastering one more straight-set victory over the Romanians. Mason and Scampoli dominated on centre court and cruised to a 2-0 (21-10, 21-13) win and to the first place.

“We are very happy to win this event. It was not as easy as it may have seemed from outside. We are the most experienced team here and maybe this is what made the difference. We are hoping to qualify for the Youth Olympic Games, but it will be difficult,” Mason and Scampoli commented upon winning the final. “Turkey is a beautiful country. This place and the beach are very beautiful and the people are very friendly.”

In the men’s event, Turkey’s Ali Cebeci and Yusuf Ozdemir powered through straight-set wins against Italy, Albania, Romania and Belarus in the round-robin tournament and qualified for Sunday’s final.

Runner-up Italy with three victories and third-placed Belarus with two wins faced each other in the playoff match. This time the young Belarusians Uladzislau Davyskiba and Aliaksei Ratutski took their revenge from Mattia Bottolo and Alberto Di Silvestre handing them a 2-1 (21-12, 14-21, 15-7) defeat to advance to the final and to the next stage of the Youth Continental Cup.

The final match was a very tight affair. Davyskiba and Ratutski took the first set. Inspired by the home crowd cheering from the stands despite the sweltering heat, Cebeci and Ozdemir came back to tie the game at 1-1. The hard-fought battle for every point continued throughout the tie-break. Eventually the Belarusians took their revenge from the Turks as well, persevering through to a 2-1 (21-12, 19-21, 15-13) win.

“We are very tired, our legs are hurting, but we are very excited. The final was a hard game,” Aliaksei Ratutski said while still catching his breath after the triumphant victory. “Turkey are a very good opponent and we did not expect to beat them, but now we are the owners of the tournament. Of course, we are starting to dream about Buenos Aires, but there is one more step before that. Maybe we will meet Turkey at next year’s Final again.”

Engage with the 2017-2018 CEV Youth Beach Volleyball Continental Cup on social media by using the competition’s official hashtag #CEVContinentalCup.

Click here for more information on the Youth Continental Cup.