10/09/2017 17:00
Ivanov/Gorbenko net #EuroBeachVolleyU20 men’s crown in Vulcano
2017 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship
Vulcano, Italy, September 10, 2017. On Sunday, after four exciting competition days, Vasilii Ivanov and Sergey Gorbenko brought Russia back to the top step of the #EuroBeachVolleyU20 men’s podium for the first time since 1997, while France’s Timothée Platre and Théo Faure captured the bronze medal in their major international debut.
Russia are back on top of the #EuroBeachVolleyU20 men’s podium. Exactly twenty years after the first #EuroBeachVolleyU20 gold medal for Russia won by Denis Radzimovsky and Pavel Zabuslayev in Zagreb, Croatia, Vasilii Ivanov and Sergey Gorbenko took the top honours from the competition open to players under 20 years of age.
The Russians overcame last year’s bronze medallists and 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball U17 world champions Yves Haussener and Florian Breer of Switzerland 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) in a very thrilling gold-medal game in front of packed stands on the black beaches of Vulcano.
“It was just amazing. We are just overwhelmed with emotions that we finally won such a tournament after the silver medal we claimed at the #EuroBeachVolleyU18 last year. We can’t find the words to describe how it feels,” Gorbenko said.
The two Russian youngsters emphasise that such a success would not have been possible without the hard work of their staff. “Without the confidence of our coaches this win would not have been possible. We have worked hard for this trophy and are just happy that we can now reap the fruits of our hard work,” explains Ivanov.
Nevertheless, the two rising stars from Russia are already hungry for more as Gorbenko explains. “We do not want to rest on our laurels; we want to keep on working hard, because we still have to improve ourselves a lot if we want to become professional Beach Volleyball players.”
The goal is clear for Gorbenko. “We want to be as successful as Nikita Liamin and Viacheslav Krasilnikov – and win more titles for Russia.”
Switzerland’s aspiring stars, on the other hand, could not hide their disappointment. “We did not find our rhythm and committed too many unforced errors. Against such strong opponents as Vasilii and Sergey, this is a neck-breaker,” Haussener summed up.
In the men’s bronze medal game, on the other hand, France’s rising stars Timothée Platre and Théo Faure downed Mees Blom and Yorick de Groot from the Netherlands (21-19, 21-18) to crown their team debut with a bronze medal.
While this is the fourth medal in Under Age competitions for Platre as the 18-year-old already won bronze at the FIVB U17 Beach Volleyball World Championship in 2014, gold at the #EuroBeachVolleyU18 in 2015 and bronze in 2016, it is the first-ever medal for Beach Volleyball newcomer Théo Faure.
Russia’s Maria Voronina and Mariia Bocharova downed crowd pleasers Chiara They and Reka Orsi Toth from Italy after a terrific comeback in the tiebreak to claim their second Under Age medal within two weeks after taking gold at the #EuroBeachVolleyU18 on home soil in Kazan. As a result, Russia claimed for the first time in history all of the men’s and women’s Under Age gold medals in the same year.
Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Artem Yarzutkin and Nadezda Makroguzova/Svetlana Kholomina won U22 gold back in June in Baden before Pavel Shustrov/Alexey Gusev were able to lead a clean Russian sweep of the U18 men’s podium in Kazan – where Voronina/Bocharova had stood on top of the women’s podium as well.
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