In the second duel of group B, Ozoliņa / Skrastiņa, who was assigned the number 31, gave up 0-2 (13:21, 8:21) to Russian volleyball players Jekaterina Birlova / Jevgenija Ukulova, who were placed with the number 15.
In the first set, the Latvian duo took the lead, but soon the Russians took over the game, reaching 8: 4. Ozoliņa / Skrastiņa approached a one-point deficit (8: 9), but for the rest of the time the opponents slowly gained the lead and won seven of the last eight points.
In the second set, the dominance of the Russian duo quickly increased to +6 (10: 4), but later they managed to increase the rebound by another three points (14: 5). By the end of the game, the Latvians scored only three points and suffered a loss.
The Latvians took the last, fourth, position in their group and finished the tournament in 25th place.
At 5 pm, Krista Paegle and Kristīne Briede (26th) will go to Group G in the central square, where they will meet with the German duo Kim Bērens / Sinja Tilmane, who are sown with the tenth number.
At 6 pm, in the fight for the third place in group F, European U-20 champions Anete Namiķe and Varvara Brailko (27th) will meet with the French duo Aleksandra Župite / Alina Šamero, who is sown with number 22.
In case both Latvian duos suffer losses, the tournament will be over before the playoffs. In case of victory, the competition will be continued from the first round of playoffs.
Finally, at 7 pm, the game will be opened in the central square by European champions Tīna Laura Graudiņa and Anastasija Kravčenoka, who are placed with the fifth number. In their fight for the first place, they will play with Russian athletes – Ksenia Dabiza and Darya Rudih (21).
It has already been reported that European ex-champions Jānis Šmēdiņš / Aleksandrs Samoilovs, who have been awarded the 16th number, won the 17th number of the tournament, Kusti Nelvaks and Marta Tīsārs from Estonia, 2-0 (21:17, 21:18). Meanwhile, at the same time, Marcis Jirgensons and Rinalds Aišpurs (27th) also fought in the third field, which were opposed by the world’s former champions – the Dutch duo Aleksandrs Brouvers / Roberts Mēvsens (6th).
The 27th issue of the tournament in the F-group game with 0-2 (10:21, 13:21) gave way to the Dutch.
In the tournament with the fourth number, the duo Mārtiņš Pļaviņš / Edgars Točs defeated Belgian volleyball players Driss Kokelkoren and Tomas van Vallis (29th) in the first field in group D with 2-0 (21:16, 21:19), who left Latvians behind in the Utrecht semi-final. , finishing fourth in the final. Matīss Gabduļins / Artūrs Rinkevičs received a technical loss 0-2 (0:21, 0:21) for not coming to the game against the Spaniards Pablo Erers and Adrian Gavir (9th).
Latvians could not participate in this game because Gabduļins / Rinkevičs found out about the opportunity to play in Jūrmala only on Tuesday evening. Athletes passed the Covid-19 test, but an answer is not yet expected. Gabduulin / Rinkevich is expected to take part in the tournament tomorrow.
This time in a group tournament, each team does not play with everyone. The winners of the first game determine the winner in the group, who immediately enters the second round of the playoffs, and the losers – in the continuation of the “excess” team competition.
The European Beach Volleyball Championship in Jūrmala takes place from September 15 to 20. The 32-pair men’s and women’s tournament brings together the best European beach volleyball men’s duets from 15 countries and women’s pairs from 13 countries.
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.
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 plays with Margaret Kozuh, and Sanne Kaizere and Madeleine Mepelinka from the Netherlands Hermanova. The current champions are Graudiņa with Kravčenok.
In the men’s competition, the title is defended by the world-leading leaders from Norway, Annešs Mūls and Kristians Sērums, who won in Moscow. World champions from Russia Vyacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovsky want to win, world vice-champions from Germany Julius Tole and Clemens Wickler, world champions – Dutch duo Alexander Brower / Robert Erzwo Adrian Gavira, as well as other powerful foreign duos.
Although the Olympic rankings related to the Covid-19 pandemic were frozen on March 16 this year, the European Championship is traditionally one of the tournaments in which teams compete for Olympic ranking points.
Volleyball players 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.
In the previous European Championship in Jūrmala in 2017, Jānis Šmēdiņš and Aleksandrs Samoilovs became vice-champions. In August 2017, Šmēdiņš with Samoilov reached the final, where he lost to the Italians Daniel Lupo and Paolo Nikola, but at that time the surprisingly high fifth place was won by Graudiņa and Kravčenoka, as well as Mārtiņš Pļaviņš with Harald Regza.
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.
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