25/05/2019 23:00
CEV Continental Cup draws crowds to Feel Good Too, Leyton
2018-2020 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup
Leyton, England, May 25, 2019. Hundreds of spectators enjoyed a day of top-class international Beach Volleyball as the CEV Continental Cup – Pool B tournament in Leyton took place under blue skies.
The tournament saw the England men’s and women’s teams in action for their first international matches on home sand since the London 2012 Olympics. The women’s team face Belarus, Northern Ireland and France as they begin the road to qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games while the men play Armenia and Switzerland after the late withdrawal of Bulgaria.
Ellie Austin and Anaya Evans, representing England, took to the court at 10am to get the weekend underway, facing Viktoryia Siakretava and Lizaveta Chabai from Belarus. The match was a stormer, and despite the England duo’s best efforts the Belarussians were just too strong and took the first win of the weekend by two sets to one (21-17, 20-22, 15-8). At the same time, the French team got their tournament started playing Northern Ireland on court two and managed to overcome the resistance of the Northern Irish pair to claim a narrow victory.
In the second round of matches, Jessica Grimson and Victoria Palmer took on Darya Borys and Hanna Karabinovich of Belarus and hit back by taking the victory two sets to nothing (21-18, 21-17), setting up a decisive ‘golden match’ to decide who would progress to the finals.
The men’s teams then took to the courts. England and Armenia, with the pairing of Chris Gregory and Issa Batrane defeated Armenia’s Samvel Ghasaboghlyan and Khachatur Asmaryan 2-0 (21-9, 21-9) before Phil Smith and Javier Bello stepped up to play Ashot Balabekyan and Andre Simoni of Armenia. Armenia lost two matches in a row to Switzerland later in the day – meaning on Sunday, Switzerland and England will fight for first place in the pool, with both nations already sure of a spot in the next round of the competition.
However, the match of the day was undoubtedly the ‘golden match’ playoff between the Belarus and England women’s teams. The match swung one way, then the other, with Belarus saving four match points after the England team saved three. The Belarussians finally prevailed, claiming a narrow victory two sets to one (24-22, 20-22, 17-15). Later in the day, however, Belarus lost two matches in a row to France – who, as a result, secured first place in the tournament and a spot in the next stage of the Continental Cup due to take place in 2020.
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