Antalya, Turkey, July 14, 2019. Mariia Bocharova and Maria Voronina won gold at the women’s CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship 2019 in Antalya. For 17-year-old Russian prodigy Bocharova this is the third continental crown this season, after also triumphing on top of the podium at the U18 and U20 European Championships earlier this year.
She added these titles to the three gold and one silver medals she earned at these competitions in the previous two years. 19-year-old Voronina has been part of all but one of all these titles. The phenomenal Russian pair are also gold medallists from the 2018 Youth Olympic Games and the 2018 U19 World Championship and silver medallists from this year’s U21 World Championship.
The #EuroBeachVolleyU22 silver medal went to Germany’s Julika Hoffmann and Sarah Schulz, seeded fifth in the tournament. This is the first medal from any major international competition for either of the two young athletes and comes shortly after 19-year-old Schulz finished fourth at the U21 World Championship in Udon Thani with another partner.
The “bronze curse” for 17-year-old Daniela Álvarez Mendoza and her 20-year-old teammate María Belén Carro Márquez de Acuña continued in Antalya. For Álvarez this is the sixth consecutive bronze out of six appearances at youth European and World Championships. In three of them, the talented left-hander has partnered with Carro.
The #EuroBeachVolleyU22 women’s podium at Antalya
Second-seeded Bocharova and Voronina showed their class in both of their games on Sunday. They completely dominated on the court throughout the gold medal match. Hoffmann and Schulz tried to put up some resistance, but to no avail. The Russians were emphatic and celebrated with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) victory.
“This title was hard to earn because of the heavy heat, but we managed and I am happy,” were Mariia Bocharova’s first words after the final.
“I am very glad that we won the U22 European Championship. It is one of the most prestigious competitions in the underage category and we are winning it for the first time, so I am overwhelmed with emotions,” Maria Voronina commented. “Every year the opponents are stronger and stronger and we have to raise our level. I would like to thank our coach for working with us. That’s the secret – years of hard work.”
“We are very happy about having the silver medal. We didn’t think of it beforehand,” said Sarah Schulz.
“The final was disappointing. We didn’t play as well as in the games before. But we thought a fifth place would be good, so a second place is great. We are happy,” Julika Hoffmann added.
The first set of the bronze medal match between 15th-seeded Álvarez and Carro and 16th-seeded Emma Piersma and Pleun Ypma of the Netherlands was quite competitive, but in the money time the Spanish duo stayed more focused and took the lead. Riding on the momentum, they took complete control of the scoreboard and cruised on to a 2-0 (21-18, 21-11) shaped up with a monster block by Carro for the last point.
In the first semifinal on Sunday morning, Germany were well in control of the first set, but in the second the Netherlands fought back and it went deep into overtime before Hoffmann and Schulz could finally close the match in straight sets – 2-0 (21-11, 25-23). It was also the last match in the long-running refereeing career of 55-year-old Jose Julian Gutierrez Jimenez of Spain.
Russia clearly dominated the second semifinal and quickly dismissed the Spaniards with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) shutout.
“The bronze is good because we earned a medal again and defended our position from last year in Jurmala. I don’t want to lie. We were so sad, because this is our last tournament together this year and we couldn’t give our best in the semifinal. But we look forward to coming back stronger next year,” Álvarez commented.
“We are happy about the medal. We would have liked to be in the final, but we couldn’t because I didn’t play really well and the Russians were stronger than us. But we have to stay calm and keep on working,” Carro added.
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