29/01/2018 10:55
Novosibirsk claim top honours in 2017 edition of ‘Lokovolley’ youth tournament
News from the clubs
Saint Petersburg, Russia, January 29, 2018. The final stage of ‘Lokovolley 2017’, i.e. the youth international tournament annually hosted by Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK, took place this past weekend in Saint Petersburg, with Lokomotiv eventually claiming the top honours after edging the hosts from Russia’s second largest city in the gold medal match.
The final day started with a ceremony held at Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery in Saint Petersburg, where the young athletes as well as the guests of honour laid wreaths to commemorate the victims of the Leningrad Blockade. The gold medal match included a small introductory ceremony as well, paying tribute to the lifting of the siege on January 27, 1944 – with the organisers playing military songs as well as video footage from the blockade. After such an emotional introduction, the players of Lokomotiv Novosibirsk and Saint Petersburg took to the court at the Vyacheslav Platonov Volleyball Academy.
The hosts from Saint Petersburg claimed an early lead in the opening set but Lokomotiv came back towards the end to seal a 27-25 win. The second set went the other way around with Saint Petersburg coming back in the late stages from an early deficit but Lokomotiv emerged victorious at 25-23 to claim the gold medal and their seventh title from the ‘Lokovolley’ tournament.
MVP Ilya Kazachenkov of Lokomotiv commented: “This was my third participation in the finals of ‘Lokovolley’ since I previously competed in Novosibirsk and Moscow. It was an interesting experience and we will remember our time here in Saint Petersburg especially because of the many spectators in attendance. It is a little unusual for us to play before such a large crowd – and yet very interesting. Our rivals were strong and I think the players from Saint Petersburg played great. We trailed by four points in the first set but we stayed calm and came back into the game – and eventually won!”
Georgi Petrov, head coach of Lokomotiv: “We would like to express a huge thank you to the main sponsor JSC Russian Railways for their help in organising such a wonderful tournament. It is very important for players form Eastern Russia to have the opportunity to play with teams from Saint Petersburg, Finland, Serbia, etc. This is a great experience. As for the game itself, it was a very interesting and difficult one at the same time. Both teams made many mistakes but this is understandable – they played before a full house and this is not something that they are used to.”
Tatiana Obraztsova, head coach of the team from Saint Petersburg: “It is a pity that we lost the gold medal match – we played at home and we wanted to win so badly. My players simply did not cope with their nerves but they are not to blame for this. The tournament was an excellent experience and it was great for us to play with such competitive opponents.”
Mr Oleg Belozerov, General Director of the JSC Russian Railways, and his deputies Dmitry Shakhanov and Anatoly Chabunin, attended the medal ceremony. Mr Belozerov presented the trophy for the eventual winners to the team of Lokomotiv. “This time we organised a youth and a veteran tournament at the same time and it turned out well. Both the young and veteran players performed very emotionally. It is important that the final of ‘Lokovolley 2017’ took place on the day we celebrated the liberation of Leningrad from the fascist blockade. This way, we paid tribute to a generation that survived incredibly hard times. Yes, the tournament has its winners but the most important thing is the friends that players from different teams were able to make through this experience.”
Individual awards
Best Spiker: Roman Murashko (Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK)
Best Blocker: Ilya Pugachev (Krasnoyarsk)
Best Setter: Stefan Fet (Serbia)
Best Libero: Egor Zhemchugov (Saint Petersburg)
MVP: Ilya Kazachenkov (Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK)
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