24/08/2020 10:00
Armenian national championship accounts for major highlight of domestic season
News from the National Federations
Yerevan, Armenia, August 24, 2020. The 2020 edition of the Armenian national Beach Volleyball championship finished this past weekend. The competition, featuring eight women’s and 13 men’s teams, consisted of two rounds, starting with a pool phase, with six women’s and eight men’s teams progressing to the second stage of the tournament.
Team Van-1 (Anna Galustyan/Ofelya Matosyan) performed very well in the women’s competition. They claimed the gold medal after winning all of their matches. Team Van-2 (Svetlana Margaryan and Parisa Gambamejad) did very well too, only losing to the eventual champions. The fight for the third place featured Team Vivaro-1 and Vivaro-2, with the latter (Shushan Tigranyan and Elen Arakelyan) emerging as the eventual winners.
The Secretary General of the Volleyball Federation of Armenia (VFA), Karen Asmaryan, presented special gifts to the athletes of the Geghashen team to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the VFA.
The men’s competition was of a very high level, one of the most dramatic in recent years, with as many as four teams in contention for the title. A special mention goes to the team from Ajapnyak, Zavan Margaryan/John Gevorgyan, who fought hard against all of the stronger teams and received the special gifts provided by the VFA in recognition of their performance. After completion of the first round, Teams FIMA-1, Vivaro, FIMA-2, and the Youth team of the Republic of Armenia secured their spot in the semis.
In the end, Vivaro and FIMA-2 competed for the bronze medals, with FIMA-2 (Ashot Balabekyan and Hovhannes Sargsyan) claiming the third step of the podium. Team FIMA-1, comprising the experienced Razmik Hakobyan and Arman Miskaryan, were the winners of a tense and exciting gold medal match where they beat youngsters Khachatur Asmaryan and Vahe Nazaryan. Hakobyan and Miskaryan easily claimed the first set of the final, but the second was a much closer affair.
Hrachya Muradyan, President of the Volleyball Federation of Armenia, and Nerses Manucharyan, Sports Officer of the Malatia-Sebastia Administrative District of Yerevan participated in the medal ceremony, together with the chief referee of the championship, Smbat Gevorgyan, VFA High Referee Karine Serobyan, the head coach of the Armenian Beach Volleyball teams, Grigory Ambaryan, and national referee Hovhannes Asmaryan.
The VFA Organising Committee acknowledged this competition as the best among the many events organised this summer in Yerevan. The VFA Cup will be taking place in September to cap a busy season for the Beach Volleyball family of the Caucasus country.
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