19/02/2020 12:00
Donovaly ready for historic Snow Tour event
CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour 2020
Donovaly, Slovakia, February 19, 2020. The Slovakian ski resort of Donovaly will be playing host later this weekend to a stop of the CEV Snow Volleyball European Tour for the very first time in history. The resort in the Low Tatras close to the cities of Banská Bystrica and Ružomberok is a popular destination for winter and summer sports as well and shortly before the European event, it will host the third edition of the Slovak Snow Volleyball national championships too. The 2018 and 2019 editions of the nationals took place in yet another popular ski resort, Štrbské Pleso in the High Tatras.
“We are entering the final stage of our preparations. Everything is going well,” said Jana Jányová, who works as a Snow Volleyball Coordinator for the Slovak Volleyball Federation. Since 15 men’s and 10 women’s teams have registered for the weekend competition – the third on the European Tour after previous stops in Armenia and Georgia – there will be no qualification round on Friday.
Attractions for the fans
The organisers expect lot of fans. “Children are having spring holidays, and the popular music festival “Donovaly fest” will be running on Saturday. We will have a DJ, cheerleaders and an entertaining programme for the fans. We hope for a very attractive competition for all who will come to see the games,” added Tomáš Jenča from the organising company. The weather forecasts predict snowfall in Donovaly later this week, which is positive news too.
Together with home teams from Slovakia, players from Romania, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Hungary, Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Switzerland and Poland have registered for the competition. The winners of the previous women’s stops in Tsakhkadzor and Bakuriani, however, have decided not to travel to Slovakia.
The venue is being prepared in Donovaly for a truly historic event in the Low Tatras
Unique exhibition featuring star athletes
There will be a special exhibition on Sunday afternoon: three Slovak ice-hockey legends will be playing an exhibition match against heroes from other sports - biathlete Martina Halinárová (winner of a silver medal at the World Championship), footballer Dušan Tittel (three times Slovakia’s player of the year) and indoor Volleyball player Adriana Marčeková. The latter was the official EuroVolley 2019 Women ambassador in Slovakia and is a former six-time Female Player of the Year in her native country.
The ice-hockey team consists of two players who won gold at the 2002 World Championship in Sweden - Rastislav Pavlikovský and Ján Lašák. The third one is a silver medallist from the 2012 Worlds in Helsinki, goalkeeper Ján Laco. The exhibition match will start on Sunday at 1 pm.
Ten Slovak teams (six men’s, four women’s) have registered for participation in Donovaly. The reigning Slovak national champions (Viktor Kociňák, Miroslav Janto and Marek Kuruc) have already achieved a seventh place at the event held in Bakuriani, Georgia.
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