European young talent ready to battle for the U20 title in Riga

The second of three Age Group continental tournaments scheduled for the season, the CEV U20 European Championship 2023 is set to start on Wednesday in Riga, Latvia, with 69 duos from 33 countries fighting for continental supremacy in the category.

Wednesday, the first day of the event will feature qualifiers in both genders, with two main draw spots in play for the men and women. The female qualifier will have three teams – Lithuania’s Kotryna Cyvaite/Livija Vilkelyte, Cyprus’ Daria Gusarova/Maria Siapani and Moldova’s Valeria Gherman/Daria Usatova – with the male event featuring six duos – Portugal’s Tomas Teixeira/Tomas Sousa, England’s Stuart Perry/Jake Sanders, Kosovo’s Enes Shabani/Yll Salihu, Andorra’s Marc Garcia Calello/Nahuel Tagliaferro, Scotland’s Ewan Ramsay/Cole Turnbull and Ireland’s Liam Corcoran/Ciagan Davoren.

The highest-ranked teams, however, will only get on the sand in the downtown area of the Latvian capital on Thursday, when the main draw begins. Among them are the men’s defending champions Tim Berger and Timo Hammarberg of Austria.

Berger, the son of former EuroBeachVolley champion Nik Berger, and Hammarberg took the title last year after finishing third in the U18 European Championship in 2022. The Austrians were fourth in the U22 European Championship three weeks ago and had the biggest experience of their young careers earlier this month, when they competed at the EuroBeachVolley for the first time in their home sand Vienna.

Latvians Kristians Fokerots and Olivers Bulgacs will be among the main challengers for the Austrians this week in Riga. The two finished third in this year’s U22 European Championship, topping Berger and Hammarberg in the bronze medal match, in just their second appearance as partners.

Fokerots, 18, is one of the most accomplished players in the event, having won last year’s U18 European Championship and U19 World Championship with Gustavs Auzins. He played with Olympian Edgars Tocs for over one year and started his new partnership with Olympic medalist Martins Plavins on the right foot last weekend, taking gold at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Warsaw Futures.

French Artur Canet and Téo Rotar are another team to watch this week. The 2021 U19 world champions, the two took silver at the U20 European Championship in 2022 and were in excellent form in their EuroBeachVolley debut two weeks ago, finishing ninth and pushing reigning Olympic and world champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway to the tie-breaker in the Round of 16.

CEV U20 European Championship 2023

The women’s event has the home team of Līva Ēbere and Deniela Konstantinova as the top-seeded duo. The Latvians took silver in last year’s U20 European Championship and were fourth at the U18 Age Group tournament.

Reigning U19 world champion Yeva Serdiuk of Ukraine will also be in contention for the title this week in Riga. The 19-year-old blocker, who won the title last year with Daria Romaniuk and ranked fifth in this season’s U22 European Championship with Anhelina Khmil, will have a new partner in Katherina Udovenko.

The winners of last year’s U18 European Championship, the Czech twins Anna and Katerina Pavelková are also guaranteed in the main draw in Riga, as well as Spanish Sofía Izuzquiza, who took bronze at this year’s U22 continental tournament with Ana Vergara and will have Adriana Serrano by her side this week.

The main draw in Riga will have 32 teams in each gender, which will be split into eight pools. The best three teams in each pool will advance to the elimination rounds.