Katharina Schützenhöfer and Lena Plesiutschnig are among the players named for the extended roster of Team Austria ahead of the CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Phase 2 event in Baden
Vienna, Austria. The Austrian Volleyball Federation have announced the extended roster of their team due to contest the second phase of the CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup from May 6 to 9, 2021 in Baden. Team Austria will be trying to use the home advantage to secure their progression to the Continental Cup Finals in The Hague – where a ticket per gender to the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics will be at stake.
The extended roster includes eight female and six male players, with those due to contest the matches in Baden confirmed only on April 21 after completion of the first World Tour 4-Star tournament in Cancun, Mexico.
In the week before Easter, a men’s training camp took place in Vienna with participation of Clemens Doppler, Christoph Dressler, Martin Ermacora, Alexander Horst, Alexander Huber, Moritz Pristauz, Robin Seidl and Philipp Waller. The coaching staff got an exact picture of the best Beach Volleyball players in Austria, who are currently very close to each other in terms of world ranking points. The staff eventually shortlisted Doppler, Ermacora, Horst, Pristauz, Seidl and Waller. Franziska Friedl, Dorina Klinger, Ronja Klinger, Eva Pfeffer, Lena Plesiutschnig, Katharina Schützenhöfer as well as Teresa and Nadine Strauss compose the extended women’s roster. The women’s national teams spent quite some time at their home camp in Vienna as well. The names of those competing in Baden will emerge only after a few more training sessions and the first of three tournaments due to take place in Mexico later this month.
Florian Schabbauer, Beach Volleyball Coordinator of the Austrian Volleyball Federation (ÖVV): “During the men’s camp, we had positive impressions from established tandems as well as ‘mixed’ line-ups. It was important to us to find out which pairings are more suitable for this important competition. We are in a very good position because we have several strong teams available to get an Olympic ticket through the Continental Cup.”
At the CEV Continental Cup in Baden, top teams from the following countries will play against each other:
Women: Austria, Italy, Germany, Slovakia, Norway, Latvia, Ukraine, Sweden
Men: Austria, Poland, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Serbia, Slovakia, France
The top 5 of each pool – two more are taking place in Madrid and Izmir – will qualify for the CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Final due to run from June 23 to 26 in The Hague. Only the winning nations there will get an Olympic quota place to compete at Tokyo 2020.
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