Russia’s Arkhipov and Goncharov sweep top honours in Yerevan

The EEVZA Beach Volleyball men’s zonal event held in Yerevan ended on Sunday in the Armenian capital after three days of competition at Grand Sports Complex. Three teams from Russia and one from Belarus had reached the semis to fight for the medals and valuable ranking points.

The two most experienced teams in the tournament eventually clashed for first place, with Russia’s Aleksei Arkhipov/Grigoriy Goncharov claiming a 2-0 victory (21-17, 21-17) over Andrei Mitrafanau and Aliaksandr Bialkevich of Belarus. Nikita Evert and Nikolay Chukhnenkov completed the podium following their victory in the all-Russian bronze medal match with Andreii Kostrov and Vladislav Aksenov (21-12, 21-18). Khachatur Asmaryan and Vahe Nazaryan recorded the best result for the host country as they claimed fifth place for Armenia.

The Secretary General of the Armenian Olympic Committee Hrachya Rostomyan, the President of the Volleyball Federation of Armenia (VFA) Hrachya Muradyan and other authorities attended the medal ceremony, with the top three teams receiving medals, diplomas, cups, and special gifts prepared by the VFA. 

The VFA presented special awards and souvenirs to the tournament referees and organisers as well, more specifically to Krzysztof Wojtunik (POL), Pavel Remizov (RUS), Grigori Ambaryan, Smbat Gevorgyan, Hovhannes Asmaryan, Syuzanna Khachatryan, Irina Hovsepyan, Ofelya Matosyan, Svetlana Margaryan, Anna Galustyan, Irina Galstyan, and EEVZA Supervisor Darius Cerka of Lithuania.

The VFA presented a medal and a souvenir to the Secretary General of the Olympic Committee of Armenia, Hrachya Rostomyan. In his address, Rostomyan emphasised that it is important to hold such tournaments in Armenia to improve the level of the Volleyball game in the Caucasus country and to help home players claim much-needed ranking points on the way to the next Olympics in Paris in 2024.

News channels covered the finals and medal ceremony as well.