Dhe four-time European champion Laura Ludwig and her partner Margareta Kozuch started with a clear victory in the beach volleyball championship in Latvia. The German national team number one defeated the host duo Marta Ozolina and Luize Skrastina on Tuesday with 2: 0 (21: 7, 21:16) and seemed fully concentrated.
The strong serves by Kozuch and the power attacks by Ludwig could not be defended by the Latvians. “We are happy that we can play here at all,” Ludwig had said before the opening game. The Olympic champion has already won four European Championship titles in her successful career, but none with her current partner. Most recently, back problems forced the woman from Hamburg to take a break.
The German champions Sandra Ittlinger and Chantal Laboureur, on the other hand, started the tournament with a defeat. The duo from Berlin and Stuttgart were defeated by the French Lézana Placette and Alexia Richard with 1: 2 (16:21, 26:24, 5:15). The championship thirds Kim Behrens and Cinja Tillmann (Münster), who moved up to the EM table after the national team Karla Borger and Julia Sude (Stuttgart / Friedrichshafen) waived, lost against Amaranta Fernández and Angela Lobato from Spain 0: 2 ( 19:21, 12:21).
The tournament runs under strict hygiene conditions. At least fans can be there. According to the organizers, up to 30 percent of the seats in the stadium with a capacity of 5,000 visitors, which was built for the European Championship directly on the Baltic Sea beach, may be occupied.
The athletes may only stay in the hotel and on the courts during the championships. Handshakes are not allowed, especially not hugs, in Jurmala any contact with opponents is forbidden. When changing sides, the athletes must be careful to walk clockwise so as not to meet. Two negative corona tests were a condition of participation, the players are allowed to appear on the field at least 30 minutes before their games. After the match, you can go straight back to the room without taking a shower.
Only a special regulation for the EM participants made the continental championship possible at all. Normally, in Latvia, where the corona pandemic has remained within bounds with almost 1,500 confirmed infections and 35 deaths so far, a quarantine obligation applies to travelers from countries with high infection rates. The limit for this is a maximum of 16 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past 14 days. With the exception of the neighboring countries Lithuania and Estonia, Finland, Cyprus and the Vatican, all European countries are currently higher.
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