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Beach Volleyball News
The 18-year-olds Khmil and Lazarenko are one of the fastest-rising young teams in international beach volleyball. Besides last year’s U21 world title, the Ukrainians have also triumphed at the 2020 #EuroBeachVolleyU18, also in Izmir, and in an FIVB World Tour event in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2021.
The two were absolutely dominant this week in Izmit, winning all of their seven matches in the tournament while dropping just one set. They gave no chance to 14-year-old Livra Ebere and 16-year-old Deniela Konstantinova in the gold match, securing a straight-set (21-13, 21-17) victory that gave their country their first continental title in the age group.
Dutch Brecht Piersma and Desy Poiesz were able to improve one spot from their 2021 #EuroBeachVolleyU20 campaign, finishing in third place. The 18-year-olds topped Estonians Liisa-Lotta Jurgenson and Eva Kuivonen in three sets (21-12, 19-21, 15-13) to take bronze.
The men’s gold medal match had to be interrupted during the tie-breaker, when French blocker Teo Rotar sustained an injury in one of the fingers of his right hand and couldn’t complete the match alongside partner Arthur Canet.
With that, the 17-year-old Berger and the 18-year-old Hammarberg, who took bronze at last year’s #EuroBeachVolleyU18, were declared as the winners. They earned Austria their second title in the age group, following the victory of Tobias Winter and Lorenz Petutschnig ten years ago, in 2012.
The bronze medals went to Germans Momme Lorenz and Hennes Nissen, who came out on top of Vaclav Kurka and Krystof Oliva in straight sets (21-17, 21-17) to finish in third place.
The last of the three age group continental tournaments set to happen this year, the #EuroBeachVolleyU18 will be played in Loutraki, Greece, from September 1-4.