17/02/2019 19:37
Russian teams reign supreme in Bakuriani
CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour 2019 - Bakuriani
Bakuriani, Georgia, February 17, 2019. Teams from Russia confirmed their status of major force to reckon with as they claimed five of the six medals at stake in Bakuriani, where the third stop of the CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour 2019 took place this weekend. They repeated the same feat they achieved back in January in Erciyes – only this time around, women’s bronze went to Lithuania instead of Turkey.
The final day of competition in Georgia’s most popular ski resort started with the last Georgian women’s team losing the match for a spot in the semis while the top-seeds from Russia – also the gold medal winners from Erciyes – sensationally lost to Lithuania. Birute Aleknaviciute, Vlada Oganauskiene and Sveta Bekis-Sturo confirmed Lithuania’s status as Snow Volleyball powerhouse as they claimed the bronze medals after a dramatic 2-1 victory over Turkey (16-14, 9-15, 15-12).
Russia’s Lapteva/Pavlova/Terenteva/Novikova claimed the gold medals of the Georgian stop as they beat their compatriots Filina/Romashova/Grechko/Lapteva in an all-Russian final 2-1 (9-15, 19-17, 15-9).
“We had one goal only, which was to claim first place at this tournament and we eventually did it,” Uliana Lapteva said. “The final was a very tough match as we played under heavy snowfall; it lasted for three sets but I am so happy that we eventually won.”
Just as it happened in 2018, Russian teams completed a clean sweep of the men’s podium in Bakuriani.
It all started with Bobrikov/Mikhalev/Smorchkov beating Korycki/Groszek/Matyja/Szczepanik of Poland in two sets (15-12, 15-11) to make sure all of the men’s medals would go Russia’s way.
As for the gold medal match, players took the court under a beautiful snowfall. After taking silver in Moscow and Erciyes already, Russia’s Shabalin/Polikarpov/Markov/Kayumov had to be content with second place yet again. The team from the city of Kazan lost in the final to another Russian quartet, Rakusov/Bogatov/Kuzmin/Bakhnar, who therefore improved on the bronze medals they won in the two previous stops of the European Tour.
“I think we were very consistent and our serving game was especially good. We are obviously happy with this gold medal and we would like to thank the organisers, and especially the Georgian Volleyball Federation for the work they did in delivering this tournament,” Petr Bakhnar said.
The second edition of the European Tour tournament in Bakuriani was a major success and the organisers already look forward to the next Snow Volleyball competition to take place on Georgian soil.
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