22/06/2019 21:00
Pre-favourites live up to their billing at historic Continental Cup event in Georgia
2018-2020 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup
Batumi, Georgia, June 22, 2019. Turkey vs. Norway and Belgium vs. Slovakia are the women’s and men’s finals of the 2018-2020 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup event that started on Saturday in Batumi. It is the first time that an Olympic qualifying event takes place in Georgia, with Batumi playing host to the history-making tournament.
Many teams travelled to Batumi to pursue the first step of their Olympic dream and unfortunately, that dream vanished on Saturday already for the home teams representing Georgia, as they lost all of their matches.
The programme included as many as nine matches per gender, with only one going to three sets. The fans in Batumi can now look forward to spectacular matches on Sunday, as pre-favourites Norway and Turkey lock horns in the women’s final. Norway easily beat Georgia 2-0 without dropping a single set while Turkey needed three matches to have the upper hand against Hungary. On Sunday, Norway and Turkey will play for first place, with the eventual losers taking on Hungary for second place.
Belgium easily beat Georgia in their men’s semi-final and they will take on Slovakia in the final. Slovakia fought hard to edge Hungary in a golden match where Lubos Nemec/Patrik Pokopec had the last word against Artur Hajos and Balazs Benkö. The eventual losers of the final will play Hungary for second place.
The top two nations per gender progress to the next stage of the competition, which is due to take place in May 2020.
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