Home teams adapt to Jurmala’s gusty winds, most reach knockout phase

The first day of the Beach Pro Tour (BPT) Futures main draw in Jurmala was spent amid concerns about the approaching storm, however, the promised thunder and lightning clouds passed by and the tournament participants in Majori Beach were just soaked by the rain, as well as struggling with strong gusts. The home teams felt quite good in the difficult conditions – 11 out of 14 Latvian duos reached the knockout phase in the men’s and women’s tournaments combined. Another one – Mihails Samoilovs and Mārcis Bērziņš – will have a chance to join them on Friday.

An orange warning was issued in Latvia on Thursday morning for an approaching storm, raising concerns among competition organisers about history repeating itself. There have been cases in the past when strong winds and high sea levels have forced not only the postponement of games but also the change of venue. “In the end, it wasn’t that crazy, because we really expected everything to fly around the air,” Olympian Edgars Točs described the weather conditions as a normal Latvian summer. “Paradoxically, it often happens at the Jurmala tournament that we train all week in perfect conditions, in heat and sunshine, and yesterday everyone was still having fun and taking pictures with the sunset, but as the games begin, the rain, wind and the real Latvian summer are here.”

Latvians are apparently used to such things, as evidenced by their performance in gusts of wind and the results achieved. In the men’s tournament, six of the seven home teams won – only Mihails Samoilovs and Mārcis Bērziņš lost 1-2 (21-16, 16-21, 14-16) to Mica Bezemer and Bram van der Wel from the Netherlands in a tense three-set battle. They will still have to fight for a place in the knockout tournament in the first match on Friday.

The 2024 World U19 finalists Matīss Šalkovskis/Kārlis Jaundžeikars defeated the Serbians Makaric/Klasnic 2-0 (22-20, 21-16), Ernests Puškundzis/Toms Liepa beat Wolf/Wolf from Germany 2-1 (21-13, 12-21, 16-14), Olivers Bulgačs/Markuss Graudiņš defeated McKelvie/McHardy from Scotland 2-0 (21-17, 21-16), Toms Benjavs/Ernests Gūtmanis surprised the much higher ranked Poles Janiak/Brozyniak 2-1 (21-15, 18-21, 15-10), and the number one seeded Ardis Bedrītis/Artūrs Rinkēvičs defeated the Swiss Leffler/Allemann 2-0 (21-15, 21-16). Edgars Točs and Gustavs Auziņš started the tournament convincingly, defeating the Australians Birke/McIntosh 2-0 (21-9, 21-13).

“The Australians were not that bad, but the gusty wind was quite a concern for them, because it completely changes the game. I would not say that we feel very good in such conditions, but we are used to them in Latvia,” said Točs after the game. The day’s winners will compete for first place in the group on Friday, while the losers will face a decisive match to advance to the knockout phase. 

Točs joked that during Futures tournament it is not forbidden for the team to watch football, as the World Cup will start in North America on Thursday night local time. “I generally like to watch football, but I am not such a big fan that I would get up and do it in the middle of the night. Sleep is more important, especially for a father of three,” the player reminded. Perhaps his next opponents, the Czechs Lukas Olsansky and Tobias Brnak, are bigger football fans, and the Czech national team will play early Friday morning in the World Cup. “If they watch it, it should not affect performance. I have had situations myself when I am in a different time zone, I haven’t really slept, but my muscle memory works and I can play well. After that, you just need to find half an hour to sleep during the day,” Točs is not stingy with advice for his competitors.

Click here for further info: https://beachevents.cev.eu/beach/competition/1840 

In the women’s tournament, both group stage rounds were played on Thursday and five of the seven Latvian teams advanced to the knockout round. World champions Tina Graudiņa and Anastasija Samoilova started the tournament with a 2-0 (21-6, 21-13) victory over Anete Namiķe and Katrīna Leiboviča, but continued with a much more difficult contest and defeated the Polish team Zuzanna Michalska and Maja Kruczek in a three-setter 2-1 (25-27, 21-12, 15-12).

“We were really happy to see Anete on the other side of the court, because she had previously retired, but has returned for this Jurmala tournament,” said Graudiņa after the victory over Namiķe/Leiboviča. “It was a good game. Our opponents fought, but Nastja and I raised our level and played well overall to be ready for the next matches. The weather conditions were not easy, but we were expecting even worse. We send all our positive thoughts so that the sun shines in the coming days! In any case, we are waiting for the fans in person to enjoy the summer and Beach Volleyball. Nastja and I promise to show our best performance.”

On the first day of the main draw, Monika Mamaja and Karlina Bērziņa also got two victories, 2-1 (23-21, 16-21, 15-10) against Tokosova/Terenova from Slovakia and 2-1 (21-23, 21-12, 17-15) against Ana Bia/Isabela from Brazil. Līva Ēbere and Deniela Konstantinova did the same – 2-0 (21-9, 21-7) against Sahlberg/Mierzejewska from Sweden and 2-1 (20-22, 21-18, 15-13) against Estonians Kuivonen/Jürgenson.

Home favourites Paula Krieva and Alise Aleksāne, as well as Renāte Krūklīte and Estere Zaķīte, advanced to the elimination tournament too.

Click here for further info: https://beachevents.cev.eu/beach/competition/1846