Vienna, Austria. The coronavirus-related break finally ends for Austria’s top Beach Volleyball players, with the highly anticipated start to the HYPO NOE Beach Volleyball Champions Cup scheduled for this coming Friday. The best twelve red-white-red women’s and men’s teams take part in the invitational event. The Klagenfurt Sports Park is the stage for the first tournament set to get underway on today, featuring, among others, EuroBeachVolley 2019 bronze medal winners Martin Ermacora and Moritz Pristauz (pictured). At the weekend, the Olympiazentrum Salzburg-Rif and the MaXX Sports Centre in Vienna will see the return of more star players to the court.
In the meantime, the organisers have confirmed the locations for the following ‘intermediate round’, which will be taking place on July 4 at Graz Mur-Beach and on July 5 at spusuSPORTinsel in Vienna. The final event of the HYPO NOE Beach Volleyball Champions Cup will take place on the very same site designed for the A1 Major Vienna originally scheduled for later this summer. The “Road to Donauinsel” therefore begins in Klagenfurt and ends in Vienna – two places that stand for pure Beach Volleyball euphoria.
Austrian Volleyball Federation (ÖVV) President Gernot Leitner: “After the long break, everyone is already looking forward to real live sport, where something is at stake – namely the title and prize money. In some sports, special formats have recently emerged for exhibition events. The Beach Volleyball product is so attractive in its Olympic form that it does not need any sort of adaptation. That is why we rely on the usual game format for the HYPO NOE Beach Volleyball Champions Cup.”
ÖVV Secretary General Philipp Seel: “The preparations were very intensive; after all, it was important to get a great project under COVID-19 conditions up and running in a very short time. The whole Beach Volleyball family has joined forces and made this implementation possible. We are therefore very pleased that we can announce two top locations as venues for the intermediate round: Mur-Beach in Graz and spusuSPORTinsel in Vienna. The anticipation is huge!”
Beach Volleyball fans will have to show some more patience, because the rules in place do not allow any spectators to attend the three preliminary round tournaments. As for the next rounds and the final, the organisers expect to host up to 500 people – the precise number is currently being determined in consultation with the relevant authorities. Nevertheless, the fans will be able to follow all of the matches of each round online through the streaming available on Laola1.tv.
