16/08/2012 22:00
Austrian fans celebrate encouraging home debut of their heroes in Hartberg
2012 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship
Hartberg, Austria, August 16, 2012. The first day of action for the 2012 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship was completed on Thursday evening in the Austrian city of Hartberg as the first games of the pool round were on schedule. A lot of sunshine and high temperatures accompanied Europe’s best U20 Beach Volleyball players in a day full of emotions and exciting fights.
The fans enjoyed watching thrilling games taking place in the main stadium as well as in the side courts. They were especially enthusiastic about the Austrian teams performing so well and cheered on them in an impressive way.
In the men’s tournament the Austrian fans can really be proud of Tobias Winter and Lorenz Petutschnig, as they won both of their matches and currently top the stands of their group. Germany’s Lars Geukes/Bennet Poniewatz and the Greek boys Ioannis Kavaratzis/Grigorios Kontostathis will fight for the second place and a ticket to the next round.
The duo from Poland Maciej Kosiak/Maciej Rudol won both of their first matches in Pool B doing so in straight sets. Nicola Tiozzo/Gregorio Vanin (ITA) and Martin Pihera/Stepan Trojan (CZE) were both able to score one win in that same group.
Pool C is really thrilling. The German team Max Betzien/Max-Jonas Karpa can be happy with their two 2-1 victories while Alexis Gras/Théophile Carrau from France and Mario Boras/Ivan Zeljkovic of Croatia both won one of their matches.
In Pool D Russia’s Vasili Adrianov/Viacheslav Kirienko finished the first day on top with two straight wins. Benjamin Lerch/Dennis Lerch from Switzerland and Pablo Lorenzo/Ferran Morato of Spain were able to score one win apiece.
Edvarts Buivids/Reinis Pekmanis of Latvia played an exciting match against Michal Bryl and Sebastian Kaczmarek of Poland, where the Latvians eventually won the deciding tie-break with the score of 20-18 to stand atop of the charts in Pool E.
Finally, in Pool F Jeffrey van Wijk/Steven van de Velde (NED) and Andreas Takvam/Runar Sannarnes of Norway proved their good shape by claiming two victories each.
In the women’s competition the local heroines Katharina Schützenhöfer and Lena Plesiutschnig had a great start by scoring a 2-0 victory over Slovenia’s Tjasa Jancar and Kaja Turk. Then they lost the last match of the day against U19 world champions Ieva Dumbauskaite/Monika Povilaityte of Lithuania, 24:26 and 22:24. The Lithuanian girls are the leaders of Pool A after the first day.
The Russian girls Ksenia Dabizha and Anna Gorbunova took the lead in Pool B. Kristen Lind/Anniken Radström (SWE) and Marta Ozolina/Alise Lece (LAT) fight for the second place.
The Austrian fans had additional reasons to celebrate because their second representatives in the competition, Nadine and Teresa Strauss, took the lead in Pool C after a really close match against Valentina Facco/Greta Cavestro from Italy.
Germany’s Anika Krebs and Jelena Wlk dominated Pool D, where Anna Spanou/Konstantina Vlachaki (GRE) and Benedicte Maaseide/Victoria Kjolberg (NOR) claimed one win each.
Elizaveta Sulima/Dar’ya Udovenka from Ukraine showed their power in Pool E with two victories. Marloes Hesselink/Jessica Smit (NED) and Martina Kovacevic/Zrinka Sutalo of Croatia had to be content with one win out of their two matches in the opening day.
Finally, Pool F was so far dominated by Nina Betschart/Nicole Eiholzer from Switzerland who won both of their matches in straight sets.
The tournament heads now for the decisive part of the competition. Tomorrow the favorites will have to prove their power in order to back up their ambitions to claim the continental crown. The fans in Hartberg are well ready for the next round after filling up to almost full capacity the local venue right from the first matches.
Click here for more information or visit the official website www.beachdays.at
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