Russia wins home tournament, Latvia and Bulgaria move to next stage of Continental Cup

Continental Beach Volleyball Cup

Yantarniy, Russia, July 25, 2010. The inaugural tournament of the European Continental Beach Volleyball Cup finished this afternoon in Russia. On Sunday the final Country vs. Country of Pool F starring the girls of Russia and Latvia was held on "Mine Anna" beach in Yantarniy, Kaliningrad region, along with the classification match featuring Lithuania and Bulgaria where the last ticket for the next stage of the competition was at stake.
The weather in Yantarniy for the last competition day did break down completely, so all the games were held in very difficult conditions in the presence of wind, little rain and cold. The main question that arose before the finals was whether 2009 European champions Inguna Minuse and Inese Jursone of Latvia would have been able to push the points off the Russian team and give the final match some intrigue. They actually accomplished that mission. Both games involving Minusa and Jursone were pretty interesting. To open the day on a high nite, they won the first set of their match against Maria Bratkova and Evgenia Ukolova, clawing back after losing the first points. Then the local girls managed to gather and crush their opponents in the second set and please the Russian fans with a successful ending on the tie-break - 16:14. However, the Latvians did win one of their two games and they did it very confidently. The first-seeded Russian couple, Ekaterina Khomyakova/Anastasia Vasina, did not show their best Volleyball. The winning blast of their compatriots could not support the second Baltic duo, Anete Krastina and Jana Jaudzema. Bratkova and Ukolova did not stretch the battle to the "Golden Set", winning this match pretty easily 2:0. Russia hence wins the home tournament and will be ranked higher during the draw for the Zonal Phase scheduled for 2011.
“Today we had to play against very tough opponents from Latvia. We know Inguna and Inese very well; we are pretty good friends with the girls, but on the court, as you know, there are no friends. I think that these tournaments are very interesting. Any athlete wants to play for his national team; it is an honor for every Volleyball player. We hope to play in the Zonal stage of the Cup and make our way to the Olympics in London” commented on their victory Maria Bratkova and Evgenia Ukolova.
The match for the third place did last for only three games. The teams from Bulgaria swept three straight victories to clinch the last ticket for the Zonal Phase. The young and inexperienced Lithuanians leave the competition and are no longer in the position to chase their Olympic dream.

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