Teams from five countries to compete for #EuroBeachVolleyU20 berths in Cesis

Two teams each from Lithuania, Poland, and Estonia, as well as one duo each from Latvia and Ukraine have reached the semi-finals at the EEVZA #EuroBeachVolleyU20 first-round qualification tournament being held in the Latvian city of Cesis. The decisive matches for a spot in the 2026 edition of #EuroBeachVolleyU20 and the tournament title will take place on Friday.

In a closely-fought men’s quarterfinal match between the third and fourth-seeded teams, Lithuania’s Raigardas Macionis and Dovydas Sinkevicius defeated Poland’s Wiktor Musial and Tomasz Warych 2-1 (20-22, 22-20, 17-15). Their compatriots Lukas Gumbelevicius and Danielius Sumeika also reached the semi-finals, beating Ukrainians Danylo Yurchenko and Oleksandr Frolov 2-0 (21-16, 21-18). The Estonian pair Armin Kender and Artur Tšuhnenkov defeated the only local team to advance this far, Kārlis Arturs Mičulis and Bruno Liepiņš, in straight sets (21-16, 21-17), while the fourth semi-final spot went to Poland’s Witold Witkowski and Maksymilian Dymczyk, who beat Estonia’s Patrik Parijõgi and Kaur Koitla 2-0 (21-13, 21-12).
The semi-final matchups will be Macionis/Sinkevicius (LTU) vs. Kender/Tšuhnenkov (EST) and Witkowski/Dymczyk (POL) vs. Gumbelevicius/Sumeika (LTU). The winners of these matches will not only advance to the final but also secure a spot at the U20 European Championships scheduled for this coming September in Battipaglia, Italy. 

Representatives from four different countries will compete in the women’s semi-finals. In a matchup between Latvia’s top pairs in this age group, the top-seeded duo of Paula Krieva and Alise Aleksāne defeated Karlīna Bērziņa and Monika Mamaja 2-0 (21-13, 21-16) in the quarterfinals, while in another derby, the Ukrainian pair of Kateryna Nitsenko and Viktoriia Kachyoni beat 15-year-olds Anastasiia Boiko and Aleksandra Kovalchuk 2-0 (21-12, 21-18). Hannemai Hanimägi/Marta-Mia Ploomipuu from Estonia also advanced to the semi-finals, defeating the Michalkeviciute sisters Beatrice and Agata from Lithuania 2-0 (21-11, 21-13), as did the Polish team Zuzanna Kudlik/Zuzanna Przybyszewska, who beat the home team Denēva Šauberga/Milana Tīna Aleksejeva 2-0 (21-12, 21-19).
In the semi-finals, the Estonian team will compete against the Polish duo, while the Latvians will face the Ukrainians.

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