Latvians and Austrians take gold in Warsaw
Futures in Europe
Beach volleyball teams from Latvia and Austria denied local duos the opportunity of taking gold in front of their home fans at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Futures Warsaw-Monta presented by Kyocera.
Latvians Martins Plavins and Kristians Fokerots and the Austrian sisters Ronja and Dorina Klinger topped the podium at the popular Monta Beach Volley Club, Warsaw, on Sunday, in an event that saw European duos claim all six medals in play.
Plavins, 38, and Fokerots, 18, triumphed in their first event as partners, winning all five matches they played in Warsaw, with just one set dropped along the way. In the gold medal match, the Latvians outpowered the Polish duo of Jedrzej Brozyniak and Piotr Janiak in straight sets (26-24, 21-16) to secure the title.
The victory was the first of Plavins, a London 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, at the international level since 2018, when he triumphed in an FIVB World Tour event in The Hague, the Netherlands. Fokerots, who won continental and world youth titles in 2022, celebrated his first triumph at the senior level.
Latvians Edgars Tocs, who played with Plavins from 2018 to 2021 and with Fokerots in 2022, and Olivers Bulgacs took bronze in Warsaw, beating Lithuanians Artur Vasiljev and Robert Juchnevic in the tie-breaker (21-18, 19-21, 15-12) to take a second team from their country to the podium.
Beach Pro Tour Futures Warsaw-Monta presented by Kyocera
The women’s title in Warsaw went to the Klingers, who, fresh from a 17th-place finish at home at the 2023 A1 CEV EuroBeachVolley in Vienna last week, overcame the top Polish duo of Jagoda Gruszczynska and Alexandra Wachowicz in the two-set (21-14, 21-19) gold medal match at the Monta Beach Volley Club.
Dorina Klinger“Poland are a very good team. This year they showed they can beat any top team and they had some good results over the season. We knew we had to play at our best level to have a chance a fortunately we could bring a very good game and a great strategy. It’s amazing that we could win it.”
Austrian Beach Volleyball Player
French Clémence Vieira and Aline Chamereau secured the last spot in the podium with a 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-10) victory over Norwegians Sunniva Helland-Hansen and Emilie Olimstad and earned bronze in Warsaw.
The next Beach Pro Tour Futures event in Europe will take place in Baden, Austria, from August 23-26.