Kravcenoka playing her part in Latvia’s present and future
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Latvia is at the top of Europe in women’s beach volleyball after the victory of Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka at this year’s CEV EuroBeachVolley and their plan is to make sure the country remains exactly where it is for several years to come.
Although she still has at least a full decade of elite beach volleyball in her, the 25-year-old Kravcenoka is playing her part in helping develop the country’s younger generation this week, as she partnered with 17-year-old Deniela Konstantinova for the Queen & King of the Court European Finals 2022 in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Despite only playing on the sand for two years, Konstantinova is one of the most promising young players in Latvia and the possibility of playing with the Olympian and two-time continental champion Kravcenoka this week should make a big impact on the future of her career.
Anastasija Kravcenoka“This tournament offers me a great opportunity to share my experience with my younger partner. I didn’t have that possibility when I was a younger player, so it’s really nice to be able to be here now. The main thing for us here is to have fun on the court and hopefully I can help her to learn new things and have more experience.”
Latvian Beach Volleyball Player
Being around younger players is nothing new to Kravcenoka, who has been with the likes of Varvara Brailko and Anna Rita for national and international events over the past two years.
A silver medalist at this year’s U20 EuroBeachVolley, Konstantinova, who also won four medals on the Latvian national tour this season, impressed the Olympian with her determination to have a successful professional career.
Anastasija Kravcenoka“I think Deniela has a huge potential and she’s very motivated. I remember that I once spoke with her and she told me that from a very young age she already told everyone that her dream was to be a professional player. That’s not something you see very often, so I think that says a lot about her desire.”
Latvian Beach Volleyball Player
Kravcenoka and Graudina are largely the most successful women’s team in Latvian beach volleyball, having won the EuroBeachVolley in 2019 and 2022 and become the first women’s team to represent the country at the Olympics, finishing fourth in Tokyo last year.
Their success in a country that has been a force on the men’s side for the last 15 years with the likes of Janis Smedins, Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs winning several medals around the world has already played a big role in stimulating younger players to give beach volleyball a try.
Anastasija Kravcenoka“We can already feel the positive impact our success has been making in the sport. After the Olympics, we heard of a lot of younger girls who started playing beach volleyball in our country. To inspire kids to be more active and, hopefully, become beach volleyball players means a lot to us. Beach volleyball is the best sport in the world and all I want is to show that and have more people feeling the same way.”
Latvian Beach Volleyball Player
Latvia seems to have a talented generation coming up as teams from the country have earned a total of three gold and five silver medals in Age Group European Championships since 2018. With more opportunities, Kravcenoka thinks, there could be more success coming the country’s way in the future.
Anastasija Kravcenoka“We’ve been seeing some good results from our younger players, men and women, in the Age Group European and World Championships. It’s been really nice to cheer for them and see their development over the years. I think the potential is great, hopefully we can have two women’s teams at the Olympics in the future.”
Latvian Beach Volleyball Player
Kravcenoka and Konstantinova finished fifth in Pool B and will need to return to the court on the Queen & King of the Court European Finals on Thursday or Friday to play for a spot in the quarterfinals.
The top three teams in Pools A (Switzerland’s Tanja Hüberli/Nina Brunner, Lithuania’s Ieva Dumbauskaite/Gerda Grudzinskaite and France’s Alexia Richard/Lezana Placette) and B (the Netherlands’ Raisa Schoon/Katja Stam, Ukraine’s Inna Makhno/Iryna Makhno and the Czech Republic’s Barbora Hermannová/Marie-Sara Štochlová) are all guaranteed in the quarterfinals.
On the men’s side, the duos that finished in the top three spots and advanced to the quarterfinals were France’s Youssef Krou/Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, Estonia’s Mart Tiisaar/Kusti Nolvak and the Netherlands’ Christiaan Varenhorst/Ruben Penninga in Pool A and Sweden’s David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig, Germany’s Clemens Wickler/Benedikt Sagstetter and Ukraine’s Sergiy Popov/Eduard Reznik in Pool B.
The competition continues on Thursday with Pools C and D for men and women and the first round of the playoffs to determine the additional teams qualified for the quarterfinals.
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