Alexander Horst is among the star players due to return to competitive action through the Beach Volleyball Champions Cup (courtesy HYPO NOE/Bollwein)
Vienna, Austria. On Friday morning, the much-awaited HYPO NOE Beach Volleyball Champions Cup will eventually start in Klagenfurt, thus marking the end of the coronavirus-related tournament break for Austria’s best Beach Volleyball players. The ‘Location Draft’ took place online on Monday evening, with the participating teams able to choose the preliminary round venue and group in the order of their seeding.
The start of the exclusive invitational tournament will take place on Friday in the Klagenfurt Sports Park; on Saturday, matches will start at the Salzburg-Rif Olympic Centre, with the MaXX Sport Centre in Vienna opening its doors to the competition on Sunday. Four men’s and four women’s teams will compete at each location. The top two from each pool and the two best third-placed teams will advance to the intermediate round.
“We are in full training and are very happy to finally be able to contest a competitive tournament again. After all, you train to be able to compete with other teams. That is what it is all about,” explained Teresa Strauss, who is in top form with her twin sister Nadine; she will play the preliminary round in Vienna.
The top stars in the Austrian capital are the vice world champions of 2017, Clemens Doppler / Alexander Horst, who will be playing another national team in Robin Seidl / Philipp Waller. The top seeds are EuroBeachVolley 2019 sensational bronze medal winners Martin Ermacora / Moritz Pristauz. The two chose Klagenfurt to return to competition after many months away from the scene.
The HYPO NOE Beach Volleyball Champions Cup, which runs until July 11, will be available on Laola1.tv via livestream. Due to the restrictions still in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, the preliminary round will take place behind closed doors.
Preliminary round groups HYPO NOE Beach Volleyball Champions Cup (the below numbers refer to each team’s seeding)
Klagenfurt (June 26, Klagenfurt Sports Park, starting at 10 a.m.)
Women
2 Franziska Friedl / Eva Pfeffer
4 Julia Radl / Anja Dörfler
11 Jennifer Pfau / Karin Elsner
12 Lucia Aichholzer / Magdalena Rabitsch (WC)
Men
1 Martin Ermacora / Moritz Pristauz
4 Christoph Dressler / Alexander Huber
8 Thomas Kunert / Laurenz Leitner
12 Arwin Kopschar / Paul Pascariuc
Salzburg (June 27, Olympiazentrum Salzburg-Rif, starting at 10 a.m.)
Women
3 Katharina Almer / Stephanie Wiesmeyr
5 Eva Freiberger / Viktoria Fink
8 Viktoria Mair / Jenny Rödl
9 Birgit Schöttl / Anna Mayr
Men
5 Tobias Winter / Julian Hörl
6 Moritz Kindl / Mathias Seiser
7 Maximilian Trummer / Felix Friedl
8 Lorenz Petutschnig / Florian Schnetzer
Vienna (June 28, MaXX Sports Centre Vienna, starting at 10 a.m.)
Women
1 Nadine Strauss / Teresa Strauss
6 Sophie Haselsteiner / Astrid Bauer
7 Dorina Klinger / Oda Ulveseth (NOR)
10 Michaela Hollaus / Julia Mitter
Men
2 Clemens Doppler / Alexander Horst
3 Robin Seidl / Philipp Waller
10 Simon Frühbauer / Michael Murauer
11 Jakob Reiter / Johannes Kratz
