European women and men on to Tokyo elimination round
Recap
Reigning CEV EuroBeachVolley champions Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre of Switzerland led a group of three women’s beach volleyball teams from Europe that secured their spots in the elimination round of the Tokyo Olympics on Monday at the Shiokaze Park Stadium.
Competing at the Olympics for the second time (and the first as a team), Heidrich and Verge-Depre won an all-European match against the Netherlands’ Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon in two sets (22-20, 21-18) to claim their second victory on pool A and move forward in the tournament.
Anouk Verge-Depre“I think it was a really tough game. We gave it our all. We were behind in the first set, but we just fought for every single point, stuck together on the court and that was the key to win the match."
On the same pool, Germans Karla Borger and Julia Sude dropped their second match in Tokyo as they fell to reigning world champions Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes of Canada in two sets (17-21, 14-21).
Pool play will be concluded on Thursday with the Swiss and the Canadians, both guaranteed in the elimination round, playing each other for the top spot and the Germans battling the Dutch for the third place and the possibility of avoiding early elimination.
On pool F, Germans Laura Ludwig and Margareta Kozuch won their first match in Tokyo as they prevailed over the Japanese duo of Miki Ishii and Megumi Murakami in straight sets (21-17, 22-20). On the same pool, Swiss Nina Betschart and Tanja Hüberli registered their second victory in Tokyo as they were scheduled to play against Czechs Marketa Slukova and Barbora Hermannova, who had to forfeit all their pool matches due to a positive test for COVID-19.
Laura Ludwig"Right now, actually it's a relief, that we won and that we are second in our pool. We knew that the Japanese can definitely play, they're very skillful and they serve really good. But this was also their first game on the centre court so I guess they were nervous."
The Swiss will now try to win their match and confirm the top spot of the pool on Wednesday against the Japanese while the Germans will get a win by forfeit against the Czechs and add two more points to their total. Due to the situation with Slukova and Hermannova, all three teams are guaranteed to make it out of the pool.
The third day of the tournament at the Shiokaze Park Stadium was also the first for teams on pool D and among them were Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka. The 2019 EuroBeachVolley winners took Americans Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil to three sets in their first-ever Olympic appearance, but ended dropping the match at the end to lose 2-1 (13-21, 21-16, 11-15).
Graudina and Kravcenoka will be back on the court on Wednesday, when they play against Brazil’s Ana Patricia Ramos and Rebecca Cavalcanti.
Tina Graudina“The first set didn't go our way at all. Part of it might have been the nervousness of the first Olympic Games, it was certainly a little factor for me. But then in the second set, we just found our game, we found what we needed to do, what our coach told us we need to do. And then the third set we also played really well. Unfortunately, it was literally the last three, four points that decided the whole result of the game.”
Four Men’s European teams played on Day 3 at Shiokaze Park. The representatives of the Russian Olympic Committee, Krasilnikov/Stoyanovskiy and Leshukov/Semenov emerged victorious in their matches. Thanks to this second victory, Leshukov and Semenov proceed ahead to the eightfinals.
The Norwegian top-duo Mol/Sorum also secured their eightfinals ticket, by outclassing the Spanish Herrera/Gavira.
The second European derby between the Czech Perusic/Schweiner and the Latvians Plavins/Tocs did not take place due to Perusic's positive Coronavirus test result.
The day at the Men’s tournament was opened with a nail-biting encounter in Pool B between the ROC’s representatives and reigning world champions, Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy, and the Mexican duo Gaxiola/Rubio. In their opener at Tokyo 2020, the Russians delivered a hard-fought 2-1 win (24-26, 21-15, 18-16). The match that lasted 72 minutes was highlighted by a constant change of the lead. Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy lost the first set after a point-for-point race, but then came back to tie the set score. In the decisive part, they started better, but the Mexican players breathed down their necks until the very last moment. Gaxiola and Rubio put a pressure on the reception of the European team, acing as many as six times in the match. Krasilnikov and Stoyankovskiy responded with 40 winning spikes (to 32), which became crucial for the final score.
Oleg Stoyanovskiy (ROC)“It’s just the first match. We did what we could, and we’re happy that we could win. In the end, the Mexicans did really well. They knew they didn’t have anything to lose so they put all their efforts in.”
Viacheslav Krasilnikov (ROC)“Our opponents played very smart. The third set was really intense, and it was a really long match, so we are happy to have won it.”
Unfortunately, the much anticipated match in Pool B between the Czech Perusic/Schweiner and the Lativans Plavins/Tocs did not take place. The Czech players had to forfeit from the battle due to the positive Covid-19 test of Perusic, and thus recorded a loss 0-2 (0-21, 0-21).
In the other match with Russian participation, Leshukov and Semenov seized a win at 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) against the Aussies McHugh/Schumann in Pool A. This is the second victory for the Russians at the Olympics, after they had claimed a win on Saturday against the Spanish Herrera/Gavira. Leshukov and Semenov were well in control of the match against the Australian duo. The ROC’s players were better on the block (recording five, compared to two by the Aussies), and were able to score more on their opponents’ errors (18). On the other hand, McHugh and Schumann outclassed the Russians on attack, finishing with 22 (to 18 by Leshukov/Semenov).
The Number 1 ranked team in the world, the Norwegian duo Anders Mol and Christian Sorum found the strength to outperform at 2-0 (21-17, 24-22) the Spanish legends Pablo Herrera/Adrian Gavira in the European matchup of the day in Pool A.
Mol and Sorum did not leave any doubts over who was the better team in the first set, but had it way more difficult in the second one, when Herrera/Gavira stepped up on their game and led comfortably until the 19th point. The Norwegians then came back and, with a successful attack and block by Mol in the end, emerged victorious. Statistically, both sides showed a rather equal performance on the attack and at the serving line, but the domination on the block (eight blocks, all delivered by Mol) sealed the deal for the Norwegian team.