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Beach Volleyball News
The 33-year-old Szalankiewicz and the 21-year-old Florczyk stepped at the top of the all-European podium in the men’s tournament, being flanked by Ukrainians Sergiy Popov and Eduard Reznik and Robert Juchnevic and Artur Vasiljev.
The sixth-seeded Polish were dominant in the gold medal match at the Plaża Miejska Dojlidy, taking the Ukrainians, who were ranked third entering the tournament, down in two sets (21-13, 21-18) to claim the title.
In the bronze medal match, Juchnevic and Vasiljev met compatriots Patrikas Stankevicius and Audrius Knasas and secured the right of representing Lithuania on the podium with a straight-set (21-19, 21-13) victory.
The only medal to go to a non-European team was the gold one in the women’s event, which was won by Americans Megan Kraft and Emily Stockman. In a fantastic match, they topped 18-year-old Ukrainians Anhelina Khmil and Tetiana Lazarenko, the bronze medal winners of this year’s U22 European Championship, by a thin margin to win 2-1 (21-17, 34-36, 15-11).
The home team of Jagoda Gruszczynska and Aleksandra Wachowicz defeated Americans Brook Bauer and Katie Horton in straight sets (23-21, 21-17) in the bronze medal match to take Poland to the podium of the women’s tournament in Bialystok too.
Next week will be a busy one in Europe with two Beach Pro Tour Futures happening at the same time in the continent – one in Ios, Greece, between Wednesday and Saturday, and the other in Giardini Naxos, Greece, from Thursday to Sunday.