09/08/2019 22:00
Main Draw underway at 1-Star event in Budapest
2019 World Tour 1-Star - Budapest
Budapest, Hungary, August 9, 2019. After dealing with rather challenging weather conditions on Thursday, the players competing at the World Tour 1-Star event at Lupa Beach in the outskirts of Budapest enjoyed some pleasant sunshine for the start of the Main Draw on Friday.
The matches continued until late in the evening, especially for the women’s competition, with a full schedule for the pool phase. The home teams from Hungary were not very successful, as four women’s and three men’s tandems lost their first match. It is true that some had a rather hard task, since no. 16 seed Izsák Soós/Bálint Rozgonyi had to play Japan’s Koichi Nishimura/Daisuke Shibata and their opponents did make almost no mistake.
“It is much warmer in Japan, so it is much more enjoyable to play here,” said Nishimura, who spoke on behalf of his partner as well, since Shibata does not feel comfortable in talking to people in English. “I really like Hungary, I have competed several times here. The country is great, the buildings are beautiful and people are nice. I also liked last year’s location (Siófok), but this one is even better. Of course we want to win and I hope we can succeed.”
Although he lost his first match as well, Artúr Hajós, who finished fourth at last year’s Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, had some positives to take from the World Tour experience.
“The organisation is great, and we have experienced it at last week’s national championship as well,” said the member of the no. 1 Hungarian pair. “The courts are of a high standard, and I think everyone is happy to come here. I hope that over time, Lupa Lake and Hungary can host even higher-level World Tour tournaments or even a European Championship, because everything is there for a great tournament from the players’ point of view.”
The tournament continues on Saturday to determine the eventual semi-finalists. Live streaming of the matches is available on EuroVolleyTV.
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