Ukrainian women advance to the Finals
Beach Nations Cup 2024
Ukraine became the eighth country guaranteed in the women’s Finals of the CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup 2024 with their victory in the Pool D of the Preliminary Phase of the event, which was held in Bibinje, Croatia, over the weekend.
The Ukrainians overcame competition from duos from five other European nations and are now set to join host country Latvia, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, France and Poland in the Finals, which will be played in Jurmala from June 13-16 and will qualify the winning country to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Three other spots will be earned through other pools of the Beach Nations Cup 2024, which will all take place next week, with a 12th and final berth being allocated to the National Federation with the highest position in the CEV Country Ranking as of June 10th, 2024, among all those finishing as runners-up in the 2024 Preliminary Phase.
Ukraine were dominant in Bibinje, with teams from the country winning all six matches they played in the event without dropping a single set. The Ukrainians topped Hungary in the first round, overcame Portugal in the semifinals and prevailed over Belgium in the final.
The decisive duels had Inna Makhno and Sofiia Rylova beating Inès Piret and Annelore Bex 2-0 (21-15, 21-14) and Tetiana Lazarenko and Maryna Hladun overcoming Sarah Cools and Lisa Van Den Vonder also in straight sets (23-21, 21-12).
Sofiia Rylova“Going to the Olympics is our main goal and now we’re one step closer to it. We were very nervous in the final, but we remained strong, supported each other and it worked out. We’ll continue to chase our dream in the Finals and do everything we can to make it happen.”
Ukrainian beach volleyball player
The Beach Nations Cup has a different competition format, promoting ‘country vs. country’ battles. Each nation is represented by two teams and the duels take place in a best-of-three format, with the decider, if needed, being a 15-point golden set.
The action continues for the women this week with Madrid hosting Pool C from May 13-15 and Vilnius and Balikesir welcoming Pools A and B from May 17-19.