From June 9 to 12, the European Beach Volleyball Championship for young people in the U-22 age group took place in the Netherlands, where Latvia will be represented by three beach volleyball duets.
Two teams from Latvia have entered the women’s competition – Anete Namiķe paired with Varvara Brailko, who was placed in the high second number in the group tournament, and Deniela Konstantinova, who will play in the European Championship together with Amanda Reguti, who was placed in the 32nd round.
In the men’s competition this year, Latvia will be represented by one duo, which unites Kristians Fokerots, who is the successor of Edgars Točs, and Artūrs Rinkevičš, who conducts beach volleyball competitions with Ardis Daniels Bedrites on a daily basis. The Latvian duo will start the main tournament with the second number.
In total, Latvian beach volleyball teams won the 17th, 5th and 2nd place in the European U-22 Championship.
Fokerot and Rinkevičs win silver
Christian Fokerot / Artūrs Rinkevičs, who joined the tournament, won the first six games and reached the final of Sunday, where they defeated the Swedes David Oman and Jakub Heldtings-Nilson 0-2 (17:21, 18:21). In the final fight, the Swedes scored four points in a row (4: 7), Fokerot proved to be superior to the net (6: 7), last year’s European U-22 vice-champion Rinkevič reached 8: 8 and with the help of the net took care of the aisle (10: 9). regained and increased the lead, but the set ended with the Swedish block (17:21).
In the second set, the Swedes took the initiative, including the world U-21 champion Oman with two elusive services (2: 6), Fokerot blocked (8:12), Rinkevič got 10:13, the Swedes gained even more (10:16), the network helped Rinkevičs completed the aisle (13:16), Fokerots blocked again (14:16), but the opponent’s aisle increased the difference to four points, so the Latvian beach volleyball players had to make concessions (18:21).
In the U-22 championship group, Fokerots and Rinkevičs defeated the Dutch Koen Herebout / Kesu de Hog 2-0 (21:18, 21:13), defeated the Lithuanians Manta Donell / Karoli Palubinska 2-0 (21:10, 28:26) and 2-0 (21:16, 21:14) Slovenian Dino Vinkovich / Roku Bracko. Latvian beach volleyball players defeated French beach volleyball players Liam Pat and Tom Altwe in the quarterfinals 2-0 (21:13, 21: 9), Czechs Jakub Šepk and Tomas Semerad were defeated in the quarterfinals 2-0 (21:18, 21:15), but in the semi-finals with 2-0 (21:12, 21:17) won the already defeated Lithuanians.
Latvian beach volleyball once won gold for the European U-22 Championship: in 2016 Tīna Graudiņa / Anastasija Kravčenoka triumphed (set ratio 14-2), but in 2018 Mihails Samoilovs / Kristaps Šmits won (set ratio 13-4). Artūrs Rinkevičs / Ardis Bedrītis won silver last year.
Anete Namiķe / Varvara Brailko, the fourth place winner of the previous U-22 championship, started the competition with four victories this time, but lost to the world U-21 champions Anhelin Hmila and Tetjana Lazarenko from Ukraine in the quarterfinals with 0-2 (11:21, 17:21). In position 5.
In the group’s games, Namike and Brailko defeated Nadine Everaert / Dessi Poien of the Netherlands 2-0 (21:15, 21:11), played Lucian Terz / Leu Rasič of Croatia 2-0 (21: 9, 21:14) and 0 (21:13, 22:20) was won by Slovenian Maya Marolt / Jiva Javornik, while in the eighth final, Italian beach volleyball players Jada Banci and Aurora Matavelli were defeated 2-0 (21:13, 21:16).
In this tournament, Deniela Konstantinova / Amanda Regute conceded 0-2 (7:21, 15:21) to the Dutch Brecht Pirsma / Visa Bekhuisa and 0-2 (13:21, 17:21) to overtake the Austrian Magdalena Rabič and Anja Trailovič. but continued 2-0 (21:14, 21:16) with Kosores Lores Avdili / Rines Hasani, finishing third in the group. In the first round of the playoffs, the Latvian beach volleyball players lost 1-2 (21:16, 10:21, 10:15) to the Dutch Nadine Everaerta / Desia Poiesa and thus ranked 17th.
More information: https://www.cev.eu/beach/age-groups/2022/u22/men
