Czechs and Norwegians victorious in Brno
Futures in Europe
Home favorites from Czechia and young Norwegians secured the women’s and men’s titles of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures tournament held in Brno this weekend.
The top Czech women’s team at the international level, Olympian Barbora Hermanová and partner Marie-Sara Štocholová earned gold at the Sokolske Koupaliste on Sunday while Norwegians Markus Mol and Jo Sunde triumphed among the men.
The 32-year-old Hermannová and the 24-year-old Štochlová made the home fans happy with their victory in the women’s tournament, earned with five victories. In the last of them, in the gold medal match, the home team faced Americans Teegan Van Gunst and Kimberly Hildreth, who were also their opponents in the opening match in Brno, and triumphed in two sets (21-16, 21-19).
Barbora Hermmanová“The first match of the tournament was very nervous, but since the start we’ve been able to stuck to our game plan and to play the way we like. We managed the end of the second set of the gold medal match very well. We were brave during the entire event and that helped us win gold.”
Czech Beach Volleyball Player
Clémence Vieira and Aline Chamereau took France to the podium as well, defeating Dutch Wies Bekhuis Desy Poeisz in two sets (33-31, 21-19) to take bronze.
Czechia could also have had the men’s champions in Brno as the home team of Vaclav Bercik and Matyas Dzavoronok advanced all the way to the gold medal match, but they couldn’t handle Norwegians Mol and Sunde, who triumphed in two sets (21-17, 21-18).
The host country also endured an upset in the bronze medal match as Germans Momme Lorenz and Eric Stadie topped Jan Dumek and Jiri Sedlak in the tie-breaker (21-18, 20-22, 15-13) to take the last spot on the podium.
Next week will be a busy one for the Beach Pro Tour, with three Futures tournaments going on at the same time in Europe. The French city of Montpellier and the Polish town of Wilanow will host men’s events while Italy’s Corigliano Rossano welcomes a double-gender tournament.
The Beach Pro Tour Futures events in Europe are run by the CEV in close cooperation with Volleyball World and provide teams from the continent with several opportunities to compete and gain valuable ranking points during the Olympic qualification period for the Paris 2024 Games.