Siófok, Hungary, August 26, 2018. The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 1-Star/Satellite Siófok has come to an end with Romain Di Giantommaso/Jérémy Silvestre from France and Tjasa Jancar/Tjasa Kotnik from Slovenia standing at the top of the podium after four competition days at the shore of Lake Balaton. Lithuania's Patrikas Stankevicius/Matas Navickas and Sweden's Sara Cavretti/Sofia Wahlén took home the silver medals, while Eric Stadie/Robin Sowa from Germany and Satono Ishitsubo/Asami Shiba from Japan could celebrate a bronze in Siófok.
Strong winds and rain are nothing Beach Volleyball players can be surprised with, but the last competition day in Siófok started with just that. In the morning both men's semifinals were played. The first-seeded Romain Di Giantommaso/Jérémy Silvestre kept their balance spotless as they defeated the German duo Eric Stadie/Robin Sowa 2-0 (21-16, 21-18). In the other semifinal match, Lithuanians Patrikas Stankevicius/Matas Navickas, who started the tournament with the qualification, did not spare Djordje Klasnic/Marko Plavsic of Serbia and grabbed a ticket to the finals 2-0 (21-12, 21-16).
The Frenchmen keeping up with the trends after their win in the semifinal.
In the Bronze medal match, which was eventually claimed by Eric Stadie/Robin Sowa, both teams came into battle with no previous medals in international tournaments of such level and it was visible from their efforts and the score at the end of the game as Klasnic/Plavsic fought until the end and the Germans could only win 21-18, 21-19.
The men's final delivered more excitement and drama than expected. Di
Giantommaso/Silvestre had not lost a single set the whole tournament, but the young Lithuanians showed their best efforts. Even though it was not enough to secure a win, as the Frenchmen claimed the Gold 2-1 (21-15, 18-21, 15-12), the young Lithuanians could be proud about their first medals in an international senior tournament, after Stankevicius claimed bronze at the U22 European Championship earlier this summer with Audrius Knasas.
"This is only our fourth tournament together, and after the French championship we won in Siófok. Super!" Di Giantommaso was obviously happy after the Gold medal match. "It's true that we lost our first set in the final, but we were
expecting a hard game and were successful at the end," added Silvestre.
The Japanese girls were all smiles after they won the small final.
In the Bronze medal match for the ladies, Japanese duo Satono Ishitsubo/Asami Shiba looked much more confident on court and thus could easily record a victory against the young Polish girls, who grabbed silver two weeks ago in Vaduz, Agata Ceynowa/Martyna Kloda 2-0 (21-14, 21-17). The 22-year old Japanese girls topped the 1-Star/Satellite Manavgat podium earlier this year in Turkey, so this is their second medal as a team on the international stage.
The women’s final did not go smoothly for Tjasa Jancar and Tjasa Kotnik, as the Swedish duo Sara Cavretti/Sofia Wahlén put up quite some resistance during the first set especially, but the spirit of the Slovenian pair was the better and they won the match 2-0 (21-19, 21-12).
Both Tjasas had to stay focused during the final as the Swedish girls were not an easy nut to crack.
"We didn't expect ourselves to be successful, I'm very happy," Jancar commented after the match. "Last year we were in the reserve list, but this year - we got it... I love Siófok, one of the best tournaments!" Kotnik expressed her emotions.
The second edition of the Satellite Siófok came to and end after four intense days of Beach Volleyball competition in the Hungarian resort city.
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