17/08/2012 23:35
Polish and German duos show their power in Hartberg
2012 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship
Hartberg, Austria, August 17, 2012. The teams from Poland and Germany showed their domination on the second day of the 2012 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship and lead the race for the semifinals in the exciting tournament being held in Hartberg, Austria. Again the stadium was filled up to the last seat and the fans in Hartberg created an incredible atmosphere for the athletes.
In the men’s competition the Austrian fans had reasons to celebrate as both teams, Lorenz Petutschnig/Tobias Winter (on top in Pool A) and Martin Ermacora/Anton Menner, made it to the elimination round. Anton Menner and Martin Ermacora could not win their first match in the elimination round, forcing them to fight in the losers’ bracket versus Swiss Benjamin and Dennis Lerch. Lorenz Petutschnig and Tobias Winter won both matches. Their next opponents will be Maciej Kosiak and Maciej Rudol (POL) who defeated Nicola Tiozzo and Gregorio Vanin from Italy in round two.
There is another Polish team playing for the semi-finals on Saturday. Michal Bryl and Sebastian Kaczmarek won a tight match against Andreas Takvam and Runar Torsvik Sannarnes from Norway 2:1 (21-16, 20-22, 15-11). On Saturday, they’ll play against a strong German team. Max Betzien and his teammate Max-Jonas Karpa showed their power as they won against the Russian Vasili Andrianov and Viacheslav Kirienko and hence advanced to round 3.
In the women’s tournament, titleholders Katharina Schützenhöfer and Lena Plesiutschnig kept their hopes alive to repeat their triumph from last year. They won their last pool game in straight sets. In round 1 they played Spain (Paula Soria Gutierrez / Raquel Brun Forcadell) and won again 2:0. In their last duel today, the young Austrian duo lost its match against the strong Swiss girls Nina Betschart and Nicole Eiholzer 0:2 (16-21, 16-21). The Swiss team has now excellent chances for a medal. Nicole Eiholzer: “I am so happy, now we want to go as far as possible.”
Another team that made it directly to round three was Anika Krebs and Jelena Wlk from Germany. They won their match in round two against Austria’s talents Nadine and Teresa Strauss due to an injury. In round three they aim to defeat the Swiss girls and head directly to the semifinals.
Russia’s Ksenia Dabizha and Anna Gorbunova won their match in round three against Poland’s Katarzyna Kociolek and Jagoda Gruszczynska and will fight against the U19 world champions Monika Povilaityte and Ieva Dumbauskaite for the semifinals. Hence, four teams from four different countries may make it to the semifinals in the women’s tournament.
The spectacle will continue in the Austrian city of Hartberg, as the 2012 CEV U20 Beach Volleyball European Championship reaches its climax on Saturday and Sunday with the Europe’s best young talents fighting for the medals.
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