Izmir, Turkey. The 2020 edition of #EuroBeachVolleyU22 will start on Thursday after #EuroBeachVolleyU18 finished only a few days ago at the same iconic venue set up at Pamucak Beach, right on the shores of the Aegean Sea. This will be the final event of the 2020 Beach Volleyball season.
The competition features the defending U22 European champions Maria Voronina and Mariia Bocharova of Russia, as well as the recently crowned U20 European champions David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden and Latvia’s Varvara Brailko/Anete Namike – who claimed the U20 continental titles earlier this month in Brno, Czech Republic.
“We are happy to be here in Izmir. We have one extra chance to play at a European Championship. We have no specific expectations. We are going to play each game like any other game, without setting any definite goal. We want to take it one match at a time,” Namike said. Last week, she and her partner represented Latvia at the ‘senior’ EuroBeachVolley held on their home soil in Jurmala where they failed to make it out of their pool.
“I think we want to focus on each game and will try to play as good as we can against every opponent. We know we will have to fight against very strong teams here and I can promise we will be doing our best,” Brailko adds.
As per the rules currently in place in Turkey, the competition will be taking place without any spectators in an effort to prevent the risk of infection from the novel coronavirus. There will be no qualification round, and the competition begins on Thursday with the pool stage, featuring eight groups of four teams in each gender. This opening stage of the tournament will end on Friday, followed by the knockout phase at the weekend. The semi-finals and finals will then follow on Sunday with live broadcasting and streaming available.
Selçuk District Governor Ekrem Inci said about the tournament: “We will be able to show Selçuk to the world with the hosting of such an international sporting event. Selçuk is a county with a very extensive historical background, including major landmarks such as Ephesus, and much more.”
MEVZA TEAMS:
Women:
CZE – Michaela Brinkova / Kylie Neuschaeferova
CZE – Julie Honzovicova/ Karin Zolnercikova
HUN – Zita Divényi / Zsófia Réthelyi
ISR – Noga Maor / Yahli Ashush
SLO – Lana Zuzek / Zala Spoljaric
Men:
AUT – Arwin Kopschar / Paul Pascariuc
CZE – Martin Melmuka / Frantisek Knobloch
CZE – Tomas Semerad / Patrik Manas
HUN – Artúr Hajós / Bence Attila Stréli
HUN – Botond Oláh / Jamil Ghazal
ISR – Eylon Elazar / Ofri Masuri
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Source:
CEV – European Volleyball
