Ljubljana, Slovenia, July 22, 2017. On the final day of the 2017 CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship - Ljubljana Masters, Anders Berntsen Mol and Christian Sandlie Sørum from Norway became the respective champions of Ljubljana tournament. Maxim Sivolap and Igor Velichko from Russia ended second after Velichko’s suffered a knee injury whilst landing with the score at 9-8 in the first set.  Safa Urlu and Murat Giginoglu from Turkey took the bronze medal after beating the home favourites Nejc Zemljak/Jan Pokeršnik 2-0.

The day began with men’s quarter-finals, where Norway’s Mol and Sørum stormed to 2-0 (21-10, 21-17) win over Germany’s Philipp Arne Bergmann and Yannick Harms in just 27 minutes. The home matadors Nejc Zemljak and Jan Pokeršnik claimed a 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) victory as well, coming out on top over the Ukrainian team Mykola Babich/Iaroslav Gordieiev. The other two semi-finalists became Turkey’s Urlu/Giginoglu and Russia’s duo Sivolap/Velichko.

In the semi-finals the top seeded Norwegians had to fight harder to claim their spot in the finals.  Turkey’s Urlu and Giginoglu gave their best but still the Vikings managed to secure a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) victory. Then Russia’s Sivolap and Velichko started the second semifinal match strong and easily claimed the first set. Slovenia’s Zemljak and Pokeršnik got back into the game in the next set but the Russians still managed to secure a 2-1 (21-13, 19-21, 15-9) win much to the disappointment of the home crowd.

In the bronze medal match the strong support from the stands helped the Slovenians get back into the game after losing the first set, but the Turkey’s team proved to be more determined and claimed the 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) win and with it the bronze medal.

The big final was only just getting started when it was forced to end early with the score 9-8 for Norway after Russia’s player Igor Velichko injured his knee when landing.  After a medical timeout the Norwegian players could start to celebrate, in unusual circumstances.

“We had a great tournament and became champions, however we didn’t want the finals to end this way. Sadly Igor hurt his knee and we wish the best of luck to him and hope to see him on the courts again soon,” commented Anders Berntsen Mol after the awarding ceremony where hereceived also the trophy for the MVP of the tournament.

Earlier in the day we caught up with the two Norweigan Vikings and tested them our as media reporters:

To see the full results click here

Teams from Switzerland took all the glory in Pool E of the CEV Youth Continental Cup tournament in Ljubljana. “It was a nice tournament and I hope we will play as good as we did here also in the final round. We always fight hard for every point and that is our biggest strength. Let's hope it will be enough to qualify for Argentina,” Swiss players Nathan Broch and Timon Gysin were happy after the awarding ceremony. Switzerland and Latvia progressed to the final stage of the Youth Continental Cup scheduled for next year where five tickets to the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympics will be up for grabs.

To see the full Youth Continental Cup results and photos click here