Last spot in the Finals up for grabs in Hamburg
Beach Nations Cup 2024
An intense 11-day period of action in the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup 2024 is about to come to an end in Hamburg as the German city is set to host the last of eight pools of the Preliminary Phase of the event from Saturday to Monday.
The tournament in Germany will determine the last country qualified for the CEV Beach Nations Cup Finals on the men's side, which will be held in Jurmala, Latvia, from June 13-16, and will give the winners a spot at the Paris Olympics.
Latvia, as the host country, Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, who won their pools at last year’s Beach Nations Cup, started the season guaranteed in the Finals. Spain won their pool in Madrid on Wednesday and also advanced. The remaining three spots will come from the ongoing pools in Vilnius and Balikesir and the event in Hamburg.
Seven different nations will be in action from Saturday to Monday at the Active City Arena in Pool C – hosts Germany, Cyprus, England, Estonia, Luxembourg, Moldova and Slovenia.
Featuring two duos that made semifinal appearances in Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour events this season in Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler and Lukas Pfretzschner/Sven Winter, Germany will also count on the support of their home fans to try to advance.
Lukas Pfretzschner“We’ll do everything we can to make the most of this opportunity. We started the season well and have the confidence that we can do it, but we’ll face some tough opponents. I definitely don’t see us at absolute favorites, but we know we are a strong team and that if we manage to bring our energy to the court and to be consistent, we have a very good chance of qualifying.”
German beach volleyball player
Beach Nations Cup – Men’s Pool C
Germany’s main opponents in the event should be England, with Javier Bello/Joaquin Bello and Frederick Bialokoz/Issa Batrane, and Estonia, with Mart Tiisaar/Kusti Nõlvak and Urmas Piik/Dimitriy Korotkov.
Cyprus will be represented by Georgios Chrysostomou/Konstantinos Yiannakkos, Luxembourg will send Kilian Stracks/Christophe Zender and Steve Weber/Colin Hilbert, Moldova will feature Egor Dobcis/Maxim Korsakov and Maxim Voleanin/Sergiu Plamadeala and Slovenia will rely on Nejc Zemljak/Jan Pokeršnik and Klemen Sen/Danijel Pokeršnik.
Jan Pokeršnik“We have a new team, which is full of challenges, but also full of dreams. The Olympics are every athlete’s dream and we believe we can succeed. We know it’s going to be difficult to face Germany, England and Estonia especially in Hamburg, but we have what it takes to put on solid performances and surprise our rivals.”
Slovenian beach volleyball player
The Beach Nations Cup has a different competition format, promoting ‘country vs. country’ battles. Each nation is represented by two teams and the duels take place in a best-of-three format, with the decider, if needed, being a 15-point golden set.