Teams from eight countries remain in contention for #EuroBeachVolleyU20 medals
News
After the fourth day of competition at Inciralti Sports Palace in Izmir, the semi-finalists of #EuroBeachVolleyU20 have emerged – with teams from Slovenia, Italy, Norway and Hungary progressing to the men’s semis – and tandems from Russia, Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain due to contest the women’s final four.
In the women’s tournament, Tania Moreno Matveeva/Ana Vergara of Spain showed no mercy for Georgia Maria Antonakaki/Ioanna Perdikaki of Greece to celebrate a 2-0 (21-10, 21-15) victory. Russian powerhouse Mariia Bocharova/Elizaveta Gubina managed to beat Italy’s Valentina Gottardi and Aurora Mattavelli in straight sets as well (21-17, 21-17). Denmark’s Sofia Nørager Bisgaard and Clara Windeleff emerged victorious from a quarterfinal match versus the reigning U18 European champions Anhelina Khmil/Tetiana Lazarenko of Ukraine (21-15, 21-17). Finally, Brecht Piersma/Desy Poiesz of the Netherlands made it to the semis after edging defending U20 European champions Varvara Brailko and Anete Namike of Latvia 2-0 (24-22, 21-18).
In the men’s competition, Italy’s Theo Hanni/Filippo Fusco showed a great performance and needed 35 minutes to claim their quarterfinal match with Ukraine’s Oleksandr Boiko/Oleksii Bublyk 2-0 (21-12, 21-19). Slovenia’s Rok Mozic/Rok Bracko secured their spot in the semis with a 2-1 (21-19, 19-21, 15-12) victory over Germany's Maximilian Just/Lui Wüst while Norway’s Markus Mol/Jo Gladsøy Sunde defeated Russian duo Aleksei Komissarenko and Aleksandr Rakhmanov 2-0. The last centre court match featured teams from Hungary and Spain. After 47 minutes, Hungary’s Marcell Mikulass Koch/Vilmos Szabo defeated Spain’s Antonio Saucedo Amodeo/Alvaro Viera Iglesias (21-15, 19-21, 15-11) to claim the last spot in the semis.
The 2021 edition of #EuroVolleyBeachU20 will be reaching its climax with the gold medal matches on Sunday, starting at 5.40 pm and 6.30 pm local time for women and men, respectively. You can follow the live streaming of these matches on EuroVolleyTV.