Lupa Beach in Budapest delivered great U18 and U20 events, where there was no lost ball for the upcoming youngsters. Photo Credit: Ádám Szabó-Jilek
Budapest, Hungary. Parallel to the World Tour 1-star event at Lupa Beach, we witnessed four days of Middle European Championships in two different age categories, U18 and U20. On Thursday and Friday it was the boys’ turn, while Saturday and Sunday the girls took center stage.
All eight countries with Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Slovakia and Slovenia were at start in the four different tournaments. The categories featured twelve teams split into four pools of three teams, with the exception of the Girls U18, where 16 teams were split into four pools of four and a modified pool play format. Pool play was followed by the elimination rounds and classification matches to determine the Middle European Champions.
U18 Boys podium. Photo Credit: Ádám Szabó-Jilek
Four different countries were represented in the final matches of the U18 and U20 Boys events. In a nail-biting U18 final Slovenians Okorn/Najdic, who earlier this summer already celebrated the U17 European Championship title with the Slovenian Indoor national team, were able to decide another final in their favour. With the smallest possible margin, 15-13 in the third set, they were able to overcome the resilience of the strong Austrian Duo of Moritz Nedetzky and Philipp Sponer.
Third place ended up going to the host team from Hungary Polgar/Udvarhelyi, who might have won in straight sets, however the Czech opponents Schinko/Rydval challenged the Hungarian duo all the way until the end of both sets (19, 22).
U20 Boys podium. Photo Credit: Ádám Szabó-Jilek
If Slovenia and Austria were in the U18 final, the U20 brought us a Czech Republic against Hungary matchup. Bercik/Ruml were able to win against the host team Mikulass Koch/Szabo. Bercik, who gathered important experience at the 1-star in Portugal previous week playing alongside his older brother, an established World Tour player, was able to apply these to decide the close final in his favour together with his young partner Ruml and celebrated a 21-18 and 25-23 win.
Bronze medal ended up going to Slovenia with Vinkovic/Jošt catching the Hungarians Elias/Franyo off-guard and making sure that there are again three different nations on the podium.
U18 Girls podium. Photo Credit: Ádám Szabó-Jilek
The theme of having three different nations continued throughout the Girls tournaments as well. The U18 final it was the Croatian couple of Burilovic/Rasic, who grabbed lots of experts attention already about a month ago at the U18 MEVZA in Hartberg, Austria with a bronze medal finish and the Slovenian Kolar/Posedel. The young Croatians were able to also use their size to their advantage and celebrated a 2-0 win.
The podium was completed with the Hungarian team Szabo/Rethelyi, who beat the Czech sister duo Vesela/Vesela in an exciting “overtime” of the third set with 17-15.
U20 Girls podium. Photo Credit: Ádám Szabó-Jilek
The U20 girls final was between the Slovenian Zbicajnik/Marolt and Czech Granciaova/Selicharova and it also decided which country will be deemed as the most successful at Lupa Beach. After two very close sets, the Slovenian duo managed to create a bit of separation and win the third set with 15-11 and herewith secure the second gold medal at Lupa Beach for Slovenia. The medal count was completed with the hosts from Hungary Gubik/Vasvari celebrating a win over the Croatian Mrkic/Sverko in straight sets.
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