Photo Credit: Aleš Oblak
Source: CEV. The Beach Volleyball Commission of the Volleyball Federation of Slovenia (OZS) has confirmed the first tournament of the season. The best Slovenia’s Beach Volleyball players will compete in Preddvor near Kranj from June 12 to 14, in the first competition after the coronavirus crisis.
The Volleyball Federation of Slovenia has entrusted the delivery of the SportZone Open to the organisers from Preddvor, who have proved themselves already in the past by successfully hosting a number of domestic and international Beach Volleyball competitions.
“The talks started about two weeks ago and at first the organizers were not entirely convinced that we could put everything together on such short notice. But after all these individual training sessions during the quarantine and now on the sand, there is a lot of interest among the players who really want to compete, so this is a step in the right direction,” explained Jasmin Cuturic, the OZS coordinator for Beach Volleyball.
There has been a lot of interest in Beach Volleyball in Slovenia in recent years, and given the circumstances, when many first-league players and national team players have moved from playing indoors to the sand, we can expect high-level performances in Preddvor.
“I believe that the competition promises high-level Beach Volleyball and I am sure that the tournament will attract a lot of attention. At the same time, it will encourage other organizers to decide to take a similar step, although they will not be able to hold the tournaments in the form they have been used to. I am already in contact with some of the organizers and the feedback is positive. In any case, the introductory tournament will be a good start into a successful season of Beach Volleyball,” adds Cuturic.
The tournament in Preddvor will start on Friday, June 12, with qualifying matches. The group stage of the competition will take place on Saturday, while the elimination phase will follow on Sunday.
The OZS has confirmed the organisation of the 2020 edition of their national championship as well and the tournament will run on July 23-25 in Kranj.
Sources:
OZS – Volleyball Federation of Slovenia
CEV – European Volleyball
