25/02/2018 19:02
Russia complete clean sweep of men’s podium as Lithuania secure women’s gold and bronze in Bakuriani
2018 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour
Bakuriani, Georgia, February 25, 2018. Teams from Russia and Lithuania claimed the top honours from the historic CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour stop held this weekend in Bakuriani, Georgia’s most popular ski resort. The final matches were truly dramatic and a joy to watch for the many fans in attendance.
Lithuania claimed as many as two medals from the women’s competition with Urte Andriukaityte and Irina Zobnina standing on top of the podium following their hard-fought 3-2 victory in a nerve-wracking final match against Russia’s Ksenia Dabizha and Ksenia Khakimzanova (11-8, 7-11, 7-11, 13-11, 11-8). Ieva Vasiliauskaite and Gerda Grudzinskaite completed the Lithuanian triumph in Bakuriani as they won another five-set game in the bronze medal match with the reigning ‘Queens of the Snow’, Czech Republic’s Anna Dostalova and Michaela Knoblochova (5-11, 11-8, 14-16, 15-13, 11-9).
The final stages of the men’s tournament were full of drama as well. Ivan Golovin and Valeriy Durnin claimed an all-Russian bronze medal match against 2018 Russian Snow Volleyball national champions Pavel Rakusov/Yury Bogatov 3-1 (12-14, 11-6, 11-8, 11-9). The gold medal match lasted for 42 minutes with Russia’s Ruslan Bykanov/Maksim Khudyakov storming to a 3-2 victory (8-11, 13-11, 9-11, 11-7, 15-13) over Ruslan Daianov and Taras Myskiv, who had won the previous two stops of the European Tour in Turkey and Italy. The temperature dropped to -2°C as the two teams contested the match for gold to add further challenges to an already dramatic game.
A very special awarding ceremony organised right at the heart of Bakuriani brought the curtains down with many fans celebrating the eventual medallists of the competition.
The 2018 CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour resumes next week in Uludag, Turkey.
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