French youngsters triumph at U19 World Championships
News
Seventh-seeded Téo Rotar and Arthur Canet of France made their way to the top of the men’s podium at the FIVB U19 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Phuket, and they did so in a particularly emphatic manner, without dropping even a single set in the seven games they played in Thailand.
In Saturday’s final, the 17-year-old Frenchmen delivered a 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) victory over home favourites Netitorn Muneekul and Wachirawit Muadpha, after shutting out reigning U18 European champions Vladislav Panchenko and Ivan Chuprinov of Russia (21-18, 21-16) in the semi-finals earlier in the day.
Rotar and Canet’s most difficult match came in Friday’s quarter-finals, when they were pushed to overtime in both sets by Tomas Semerad and Jakub Sepka of the Czech Republic, but persevered to claim a 2-0 (24-22, 25-23) win. In the round of 16, the French pair managed a 2-0 (21-12, 22-20) victory over Estonia’s Karmo Saviauk and Kaur Erik Kais.
It is the first international podium for Rotar and Canet. They had previously participated in seven World Tour events and two age-category CEV European Championships.
In the bronze medal match in Phuket, Brazil’s Nicolas Capretti Schosler and Samuel Giacomo Oselame Bello defeated second-seeded Panchenko and Chuprinov by 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 15-9).
Megan Kraft and Delayne Maple of the United States clinched the women’s gold medal to cap off their superb run from the qualification round as they defeated Russia’s Olga Gavrilova and Alina Salmanova 21-12, 21-17 in the gold medal match.
Ukraine’s Anhelina Khmil and Tetiana Lazarenko, seeded 12th in the main draw, produced a 2-0 (21-15, 21-19) shutout of fifth-seeded Xolani Hodel and Katherine Reilly (USA) in the third place match to claim the bronze. It is already the seventh international podium for the Ukrainian duo, which also claimed the titles at the 2020 CEV U18 European Championship and one of this year’s 1-star events in Sofia. They have also earned three bronze medals on the World Tour and one at this year’s U22 European Championship.