Jūrmala, August 26, LETA. Latvian beach volleyball players in the tennis center “Lielupe” in Jurmala on Wednesday did not save the title of athletes in the opponents of the European Championship group tournament.
In the men’s competition, two-time European champions and world-class leaders from Norway Annešs Mūls and Kristians Sērums were drawn in Group A together with European ex-champions Jānis Šmēdiņš and Aleksandrs Samoilovs, as well as northern neighbors from Estonia Kusti Nelvaks and Marta Tīsars and Austrians Kristofs Hubers.
In group B, Ardis Bedrītis and Arnis Reliņš received the world champions Russians Vyacheslav Krasiļņikovs and Oleg Stojanovskis. The group also included the Polish world leaders Pjotr Kantors and Bartosz Lošjak, as well as the Frenchmen Kinsijs E and Arno Gotjē-Ra.
In Group C, Mikhail Samoilov and Alexander Solovay will be met by world vice-champions from Germany Julius Tole and Clemens Wickler, multiple world championship medalist and 2015 European Bronze winner Christian Fahrenhorst and Steven van de Velde and Poles Mikhail Brill and Mikolaj.
Meanwhile, Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Edgars Točs in Group D have been drawn by two-time European Championship finalists and 2016 Olympic semi-finalists Konstantin Semyonov and Ilya Leshukov from Russia, 2017 world vice-champions Clemens Doppler, who is also two-time champion Clemens Doppler. Dris Kokelkoren and Tom van Valli, well-known Dutch people in Latvia.
Women Marta Ozoliņa and Luize Skrastiņa in group B will be met by Laura Ludviga from Germany, the owner of all possible beach volleyball titles, led by Margareta Kozuha, Jekaterina Birlova and Jevgenija Ukolova from Russia, as well as Mihaela Kubalkova and Mihak Kubičkova from Czech Republic.
In Group G, Krista Paegle and Kristīne Briede will have to play with the Dutch – two-time European champion Sanni Kaiser and once-time winner Madeleine Mepelinka, 2013 world champions Karl Borger and multiple European Championship bronze winners Julius Navanato and Julia Navane from Julia Zudie.
In Group F, Anete Namiķe and Varvara Brailko will meet the Czech bronze medalists of the 2018 European competition Marku Slukov and Barbor Hermanov, the 2011 European champions Marta Menegati and Victoria Orsi Tota from Italy and the Frenchmen Aleksandrs Župite and Alina Šamero.
Only European champions Tīna Laura Graudiņa and Anastasija Kravčenoka, who were included in Group E from the first basket, were among the relatively lighter opponents – Austrians Lena Pleziučniga and Katarīna Šicenhofere, Russian duo Ksenija Dabiža and Darya Rudiha and Finns Aika Lehton
Eight duets will represent Latvia in the strong competition in the European Beach Volleyball Championship, which will take place in Jūrmala from 16 to 20 September. The tournament will bring together the best European beach volleyball men’s duos from 17 countries and women’s duos from 13 countries in 32 pairs of men and women.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tournament is eligible for one of the strongest tournaments of the season in terms of status in the world.
In the men’s competition, the title will be defended by the world-leading leaders from Norway, Anne Mül and Christian Serum, who won in Moscow. World champions from Russia Vyacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskis, world vice-champions from Germany Julius Tole and Clemens Wickler, world ex-champions Dutch duo Alexander Brouvers / Robert Erzwo / Robert Lewsani and Olympic vice-champions from Italy will want to win Gavira, as well as other strong foreign duos.
The main contenders for the women’s tournament are the Swiss – Tanja Hübler / Nina Becart and Joan Heidrich / Anuka Verge-Depré, the Olympic champion Laura Ludviga from Germany, who will play with Margaret Kozuh, and Sanne Kaizere and Madeleine Mepelinka from the Netherlands Hermanova.
Although the Olympic rankings related to the Covid-19 pandemic were frozen on March 16 this year, the European Championship has traditionally been one of the tournaments in which teams compete for Olympic ranking points.
Volleyball players will also compete for a total prize pool of 200,000 euros.
The decision to organize the competition in Latvia was made at the meeting of the Board of the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) on July 7, 2020.
At the previous European Championship in Jūrmala in 2017, when Jānis Šmēdiņš and Aleksandrs Samoilovs became vice-champions, Latvia had four pairs in both men’s and women’s competitions.
In August 2017, Šmēdiņš with Samoilov reached the final, where he lost to the Italians Daniel Lupo and Paolo Nikola, but the surprisingly high fifth place was won by Graudiņa and Kravčenoka, as well as Pļaviņš with Harald Regža.
This year, the competitions of the World Tour stage were to take place in Jūrmala, but this tournament was postponed to the next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
