"Golden Set" brings Latvia a place for next round of Continental Cup

Continental Beach Volleyball Cup

Yantarniy, Russia, July 25, 2010. The men's competition in Pool F of the inaugural European Continental Beach Volleyball Cup came to a close this afternoon in the city of Yantarniy, Russia. The final match between Russia and Bulgaria and the battle for the last ticket to advance to the next stage of the tournament between Lithuania and Latvia were played on the last competition day.
Unlike in the women’s division, the men’s final turned out a little bit less interesting. The Bulgarian team, led by its most powerful pair Mitev/Neshev, was unable to provide a decent resistance to the representatives of the Russian national team. In the morning Kolodinsky/Koshkaryov and Likholetov/Romashkin successfully went through their respective matches against Konstantin Mitev/Neven Neshev and Teodor Marinov/Valentin Dimov. Kolodinsky and Koshkaryov brought the final point to the Russian team but their task was not easy at all. Igor and Yaroslav – who will be playing next week in Klagenfurt for the SWATCH FIVB World Tour - were lucky in the money time of both sets which eventually ended 22:20 and 26:24 for the Russians. Finally, Alexander Likholetov and Evgeniy Romashkin delighted the local fans with a beautiful show in what was a “meaningless” match against Marinov and Dimov. The full tribunes of the central court gave a big support to the representatives of the local club "Dinamo-Yantar" and the athletes paid them back with a victory on the tie-break, 15:12. The Russian team did not lose any single game during this tournament.
“Of course, the last match did not decide anything but we're playing at home, with our fans, so we didn't want to disappoint them. I think that the match was quite interesting. It was nice that we could play with Evgeniy for the national team, to help our country to qualify for the next stage of the Continental Cup. Next week we are going to Anapa for the third stop of the Russian tour and then we will compete in the CEV Satellite in Vaduz. We will try to win every match” summed up Alexander Likholetov.

The fight for the third place, which gives the right to participate in the next stage of the Continental Cup, was very tough. After four matches between the teams of Lithuania and Latvia, the score was equal, i.e. 2:2. The winner was identified in the so-called "Golden Set", which is held on the competition for the first time in the history of Beach Volleyball. Latvians Arturs Vanags and Toms Kiselevs finally cruised past with the score 15:11 and brought their country into the zonal phase of the Continental Cup.

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