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Preddvor, Slovenia, June 15, 2020. The SportZone Open, the first tournament of this year’s Slovenian Beach Volleyball series, coincided with the much-awaited resumption of competitive Beach Volleyball in the country, with the event held at Preddvor near Kranj. Tajda Lovšin and Špela Morgan (pictured) claimed top honours in the women’s competition, while Tadej Boženk and Vid Jakopin proved once more to be the number one Slovenia’s tandem in the men’s category.
As many as 50 teams gathered in Preddvor for the three-day event, which started with qualifying matches. The tense Saturday clashes in the group stage of the competition did not bring too many major surprises, but the heavy favourites, reigning national champions Tjaša Kotnik and her teammate Monika Potokar had to say goodbye already in the quarterfinals, as did the top-seeded Nina Zdešar and Katarina Bulc.
Tajda Lovšin and Špela Morgan, who joined forces once more after securing a 9th place at the 2017 U20 European Championship in Vulcano, Italy, won in straight sets against youngsters Zala Špoljaric and Lana Žužek, as Klara Kregar and Katarina Fabjan took the bronze medals.
“We are very happy to win and we are also very happy that we are playing together again. We really enjoy it. We did not expect this success, since our goal was just to play as good as possible. The competition was of a high level and the organisation was good. It was just great,” Lovšin was happy with the performance that she and Morgan delivered.
The unexpected defeat in the semi-finals against Hungary’s Artur Hajos and Bence Attila Streli, who beat one of the favourite teams, Danijel Pokeršnik and ?rtomir Bošnjak, in the quarterfinals, obviously was some sort of a big blow for the highest-ranked Slovenian team internationally – Nejc Zemljak and Jan Pokeršnik. After this setback, they lost their bronze medal match to Sergej Drobnic and Alan Košenina as well.
Vid Jakopin looked in fine form as the Slovenian national tour started this past weekend in Preddvor
In an exciting final, the reigning Slovenian champions Vid Jakopin and Tadej Boženk celebrated a 21-19, 21-19 victory against the Hungarian youngsters Hajos and Streli. “We are slowly trying to raise our form to the right level. All the best Slovenian teams competed here in Preddvor, some came in a very good shape, and some did not. It was a nice tournament, and it was nice to compete again after the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to compete on the Slovenian national tour, but we are also hoping that the CEV and FIVB will confirm the organisation of some international tournaments,” Jakopin commented.
The second tournament of the Slovenian series will be taking place in Kostanjevica na Krki from 10 to 12 July.
Sources:
CEV – European Volleyball
OZS – Volleyball Federation of Slovenia
June 11th, 2020
Source: CEV. The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, awarded the members of the Slovenian men’s Volleyball team with a national honour, the Order of Merit, which the two-time EuroVolley silver medallists received for their inspiring sporting achievements, for helping cement Slovenia’...
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