This weekend, on July 4 and 5, in Ventspils beach volleyball stadium, the 2020 season of “ERGO Open” or Latvian beach volleyball championship will be opened. The ambassadors of the first stage – brothers Toms and Jānis Šmēdiņi – reveal that Ventspils was an important venue for the competition at the beginning of their careers.
Content will continue after the ad
Advertising
–
Taking into account that several international competitions have been canceled, all the best Latvian beach volleyball players, including two Olympic pairs – Mārtiņš Pļaviņš / Edgars Točs and Tīna Graudiņa / Anastasija Kravčenoka, will gather at the Latvian Championship this summer. In total, five stages for men and four for ladies are planned for the “ERGO Open” tour this summer.
The ambassadors of the Ventspils stage – brothers Toms and Jānis Šmēdiņi – reveal that they took the first steps in the beach volleyball competition on the sand of Ventspils beach.
“We had our first tournaments at the age of nine or ten. I played with my father, bracka with Ilmārs Vensbergs. Later together,” recalls Toms Šmēdiņš, who was born in Ventspils, who plans to open the season together with Artūrs Kiselevs this year. “In fact, we played with my mother from the beginning. Dad took part in tournaments, but we went to support him with a basket of meatballs and at the same time played with my mother,” Jānis Šmēdiņš adds his older brother, without hiding that Ventspils is one of his favorite tournament venues in Latvia. “When we started, the fields were not as they are now. Now in Ventspils beach volleyball has created excellent conditions – a well-maintained stadium,” continues the most titled Latvian beach volleyball player Jānis Šmēdiņš.
The ambassadors of the Ventspils stage also remember the U18 national camps, which were organized by coach Aigars Birzulis at that time. “We lived in university dormitories, cool times. We rode in tandem rickshaws, ate in a very cool place” Ermanitis “, the workload was substantial, but the progress was also significant, we went step by step,” remembers Tom, who, like his brother, now represents Ventspils beach volleyball. club “Bloks”.
Jānis remembers that the first tournaments in the adult competition were difficult: “We were happy for every point we scored. There were games in which we scored one, two or three points, but the joy was great,” Jānis does not hide, who together with Aleksandrs Samoilovs will be one of Ventspils stage favorites .
The brothers once won prizes in Ventspils at the Latvian Olympics: beach volleyball – silver, classic volleyball – gold! Jānis does not hide his regret that as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, this beach volleyball season is what it is. The works put in the pre-season camps by the duo Samoilovs / Šmēdiņš under the leadership of the new head coach Marko Solustri will not really be tested this season, but Jānis does not hide that he will be happy to play in the Latvian championship.
The organizers of the Latvian championship “ERGO Open” acting responsibly and observing the security measures set by the Latvian government, which are necessary to reduce the risks of the spread of coronavirus “Covid-19”, the number of spectators will be limited, and usually no full spectator stands this year.
All Sunday games will be broadcast live on “Delfi” and “sportacentrscom”. The finals will be broadcast on LTV7.
“ERGO OPEN 2020” Ventspils stage calendar:
July 3 from 17.00 – qualifying games
July 4 from 9.00 – qualifying games, opening, main tournament games
July 5 from 10.00 – 1/4 finals and 1/2 finals games (live Sportacentrs.com TV and “Delfi”)
July 5 from 14.00 – games for medals (live LTV7)
–
