Russian qualifiers triumph at first stop of EEVZA Beach Volleyball Tour

Russia’s Grigoriy Goncharov/Aleksei Arkhipov triumphed at the EEVZA zonal event held in Rokiškis, Lithuania, where they progressed all the way from the qualification round to the gold medal match.

The last day’s programme started with the semi-finals, where Mariusz Prudel/Mateusz Florczyk of Poland delivered a very good performance to keep Latvian duo Arnis Relins and Marcis Jirgensons at bay to seal a 2-0 (21-18, 21-17) victory and stay in contention for the gold medal.

In the second semi, Goncharov/Arkhipov needed two sets only to upset the Lithuanian spectators by beating the only home team still in the competition – youngsters Audrius Knasas and Patrikas Stankevicius 2-0 (24-22, 21-15).  

Knasas and Stankevicius regrouped from this setback to secure a 2-0 victory over their neighbours from Latvia and finish the tournament with the bronze medals. Goncharov and Arkhipov needed two quick sets (21-13, 21-12) to beat Prudel/Florczyk and claim top honours from the first stop of this year’s EEVZA Beach Volleyball Tour.  

“We would like to thank the organisers – the community of Velykalnis for showing their interest and bringing an international tournament to Lithuania and continuing the tradition to invite the EEVZA athletes to Rokiškis. Beach Volleyball fans could witness high-quality matches here in Lithuania. I would like to thank the organisers and local authorities for taking so much care of the players and providing them with accommodation as a welcome gift. We wish a lot of luck to all the players and hope to meet everyone in other competitions anytime soon,” said the President of the Lithuanian Volleyball Federation, Darius Čerka.

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