The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 1-Star Ljubljana by I Feel sLOVEnia event returns to Slovenia’s capital for the fourth year in a row. Home players are aiming high with eight teams already seeded in the main draw.
The venue in the city centre already awaits another interesting competition. This year, the centre court is not at the usual location at the Congress Square, but at the Pogacar Square, still securing another picturesque scenery to the event.
The interest for the tournament was big. The organisers received more than 120 applications from 30 different countries, including Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. There are 24 teams (12 per gender) already qualified for the Main Draw, while another 32 teams will try to secure their spot in the next phase through the qualification round. The competition will start on Thursday, July 29, 2021 with qualifications that will take place on the side courts at the Sports Park Ludus in ?rnu?e, since the centre court will traditionally host the Slovenian national championship under-age finals.
Home hero and Slovenia’s vice-champion Nejc Zemljak, who will be playing with his long-time partner Jan Pokeršnik, is looking forward to the tournament:
“I expect strong competition, because there are many strong teams coming to Ljubljana and I am really happy with that. It is difficult to talk about the result. We will need to play on a high level and hope for the best. Every match counts, you have to give all that you can at each match, and I believe that at least one of the Slovenian teams can reach high, including finishing on the podium.”
Home heroes Danijel Pokeršnik and Crtomir Bošnjak will hope to repeat at least their bronze-medal winning performance from the event in Leuven
Danijel Pokeršnik and Crtomir Bošnjak, the reigning Slovenian Beach Volleyball champions, are also among the participants. The 36-year-old Pokeršnik, who this past weekend won Slovenia’s national crown for a record eighth time, knows that he and Bošnjak are well prepared:
“We are happy that we managed to add the national championship title to our bronze medal from the 1-Star event in Leuven. I hope that we can keep this level for the third week in a row. We know that there will be many good teams, so I prefer not to predict anything. I really wish for us to finally reach the semi-finals and play the medal matches. The tournament in Ljubljana is always well organised, there is nothing better than playing in the evening on the centre court in front of full stands.”
Slovenia has four teams also in the women’s main draw. Nina Lovšin, who will be playing with Špela Morgan, also cannot wait for the tournament to begin: “Among the participating teams there are some 1-Star medallists and some good, but less experienced teams – what definitely assures us of an exciting tournament. We expect to win some matches in the pool stage and to proceed to the knockout phase. We wish to deliver our best performance at each game as we are extra motivated to compete at our home tournament.”
