LATVIAN MEN AND DUTCH WOMEN SUCCESSFUL

Under 20 European Beach Volleyball Championships 2005

Tel Aviv/Luxembourg, August 2, 2005. Although Germany collected the most medals during the fourth edition of the Under 20 European Beach Volleyball Championships, which were held on the fine sand of Jerusalem Beach of Tel Aviv, Israel, finishing third in the women’s as well as in the men’s comeptition, the gold medals went to the Latvian brothers Jänis and Toms Smedins and to Marleen Van Iersel and Marloes Wesselink from the Netherlands.

Van Iersel/Wesselink were the deserved winners of the ladies’ table beating their Austrian opponents Magdalena Jirak and Stefanie Schwaiger 15:13 in the tiebreak set after almost an hour of play. With an average temperature of 35°C and a humidity level of 70% the hopeful Beach Volleyball athletes in Tel Aviv struggled hard but the Dutch formation proved the toughest, also beating later bronze medallists Jana Köhler and Laura Ludwig from Germany twice on their way to victory.

In the final of the men’s competition Latvians Jänis and Toms Smedins beat Polish Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel, taking the gold medal back to Latvia after their compatriots Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Martins Plavins won the 2004 edition. Whilst Fijalek/Prudel lost the first match of the Main Phase against their Polish compatriots Tomasz Sinczak/Rafal Szternel and a set on their way to the final, the Latvian duo stormed through the Main Phase not conceding one set. Bronze medal went to Germans Sebastian Fuchs and Thomas Kaczmarek who defeated Spaniards Adrian Gavira/Francisco Marco in two sets.

Results Women
Semifinal

Van Iersel/Wesselink M. (NED) - Koehler/Ludwig (GER) 21:19, 21:15

Jirak/Schwaiger S. (AUT) - Bratkova/Veselova (RUS) 18:21, 21:16, 17:15

Match for third place

Koehler/Ludwig (GER) - Bratkova/Veselova (RUS) 21:12, 21:16

Final

Van Iersel/Wesselink M. (NED) - Jirak/Schwaiger S. (AUT) 21:16, 13:21, 15:13

Results Men
Semifinal

Smedins J./Smedins T. (LAT) - Fuchs/Kaczmarek (GER) 21:17, 21:17

Fijalek/Prudel (POL) - Gavira/Marco (ESP) 12:21, 21:15, 15:13

 

Match for third place

Fuchs/Kaczmarek (GER) - Gavira/Marco (ESP) 21:19, 21:12

Final

Smedins J./Smedins T. (LAT) - Fijalek/Prudel (POL) 22:20, 21:14

 

More on the web at www.cev.lu

Enjoy & Be There:

04-07 August 2005: Under 23 European Beach Volleyball Championships 2005, Myslowice, Poland.
06-09 August 2005: Nestea European Championship Tour - Swiss Open, Lucerne, Switzerland.
11-14 August 2005: Under 18 European Beach Volleyball Championships, Illichivsk, Ukraine.
25-28 August 2005: Nestea European Championship Tour Final, Moscow, Russia.
02-11 September 2005: Men’s Senior European Championships 2005, Rome (ITA) and Belgrade (SCG).
16-25 September 2005: Women’s Senior European Championships 2005, Pula and Zagreb, Croatia.