Mārupe, Sept. 18, LETA. The Latvian duo Jānis Šmēdiņš and Aleksandrs Samoilovs won the first round of the European Championship playoffs in Mārupe on Friday, as a result of which two domestic pairs will be seen in the eighth final.
The Latvian duo with the 16th number defeated the Belgian Dris Kokelkoren and Toms van Vallis (29th) 2-0 (21:18, 21:16).
The Belgian duo previously lost to the leading Latvian duo Mārtiņš Pļaviņš / Edgars Točs in the group tournament.
Šmēdiņš / Samoilov performed similarly (7: 7) with the Belgian duo in the introduction of the first set, but soon scored three points in a row and took the lead with 10: 7. This advantage was maintained for a short time, as soon the scoreboard announced a draw of 15:15. The next two points were earned by Latvians, but at the top of the set the advantage was increased to +3, celebrating the success with 21:18.
In the second set, the decisive advantage was gained after 12 points (6: 6), Samoilov / Šmēdiņš won five points in a row (11: 6). For a while the opponents approached to -2 (11:13), however, the Latvian duo demonstrated a convincing performance until the end of the game, as a result of which they reached the eighth final, which was already reached by Pļaviņš / Točs.
The quarter-finals and quarter-finals will take place on Saturday, while the duel for the prizes is scheduled for Sunday.
In the eighth final, Samoilov / Šmēdiņš will meet with 11th number from Russia Nikita Lamin / Taras Miskivs, but Pļaviņš / Točs will look to beat the Olympic vice-champions from Italy Daniele Lupo / Paolo Nikolai, who are placed with the fifth number.
It has already been reported that Pļaviņš / Točs defeated the Austrian veterans Aleksandrs Horsts / Klemens Dopplers in the group D game with a 2-0 (22:20, 21:16), who were awarded the 20th number. The Latvians celebrated their victory in Group D and reached the second round of the playoffs, because they are free from the first.
Jānis Šmēdiņš / Aleksandrs Samoilovs, who finished 16th, lost 0-2 (14:21, 12:21) to the tournament favorites from Norway Anneš Mūls and Kristian Sērums in the second group A game with 0-2 (14:21, 12:21). The Latvians won the second place in group A and the competition continues in the first round of the playoffs.
Meanwhile, four Latvian duos with a lower number were forced to finish the competition in the divided 25th place.
The 31st issue of the competition Arnis Reliņš / Ardis Bedrītis in the second duel of group B with 2-1 (15:21, 21:16, 12:15) gave way to the French Kinsija E and Arno Gotjē-Ra, who were posted with the 18th issue. Mārcis Jirgensons and Rinalds Aišpurs (27.) in Group F with 0-2 (23:25, 20:22) gave way to the Germans Philip Bergman and Lukas Pfrecšner (22nd).
Mihails Samoilovs and Aleksandrs Solovejs (30th) in the second game of group C with 1-2 (21:16, 19:21, 14:16) gave way to the Polish duo Mihals Brils / Mikolajs Miččuks (19th), while Matīss Gabdulļins / Artūrs Rinkevičs lost the competition for the number 25 from Switzerland Marko Kratigers / Florians Brēers with 0-2 (14:21, 13:21). The duo won the King of the Court competition a week ago in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
After unfavorable weather conditions in Jūrmala on Thursday, on Friday, athletes will fight in four squares of “Ruukki” Beach Center in Mārupe without the presence of fans to resume fights in Jūrmala on Saturday and Sunday.
The schedule of the competition has changed slightly. The men will play the second round of the group tournament on Friday, as well as the first round of the playoffs, while the women will determine the winners in the first two rounds of the “play-off”.
At 12 o’clock, the women also started the elimination matches.
Of the four Latvian duos, only one remains in the ranks – European champions Tīna Graudiņa and Anastasija Kravčenoka (5th), who will start the fight as the winners of the group in the second round of the playoffs, finishing their fight on the first field at 17.10.
Their opponents will be determined in a game where Italians Marta Menegati and Victoria Orsi Tota (11th) will meet with Russian athletes Maria Bocharov and Maria Voronin (19th).
This year, each team is playing only two games in a group tournament. The winners of the first game determine the winner in the group, who immediately enters the second round of the playoffs, and the losers – in the continuation of the “excess” team competition.
The European Beach Volleyball Championship in Jūrmala takes place from September 15 to 20. The tournament for 32 pairs of men and women brings together the best European men’s beach volleyball duets from 15 countries and women’s pairs from 13 countries.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the tournament is eligible for one of the strongest tournaments of the season in terms of status in the world.
The main contenders for the women’s tournament are the Swiss – Tanja Hübler / Nina Becart and Joan Heidrich / Anuka Verge-Depré, the Olympic champion Laura Ludviga from Germany, who plays with Margaret Kozuh, and Sanne Kaizere and Madeleine Mepelinka from the Netherlands Hermanova. The current champions are Graudiņa with Kravčenok.
In the men’s competition, the title is defended by the world-leading leaders from Moscow, Annešs Mūls and Kristians Serums, who won in Moscow. World champions from Russia Vyacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovsky want to win, world vice-champions from Germany Julius Tole and Clemens Wickler, world champions – Dutch duo Alexander Brower / Robert Erzwo Adrian Gavira, as well as other powerful foreign duos.
Although the Olympic rankings related to the Covid-19 pandemic were frozen on March 16 this year, the European Championship has traditionally been one of the tournaments in which teams compete for Olympic ranking points.
Volleyball players also compete for a total prize pool of 200,000 euros.
The decision to organize the competition in Latvia was made at the meeting of the Board of the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV) on July 7, 2020.
In the previous European Championship in Jūrmala in 2017, Jānis Šmēdiņš and Aleksandrs Samoilovs became vice-champions. In August 2017, Šmēdiņš with Samoilov reached the final, where he lost to the Italians Daniel Lupo and Paolo Nikola, but at that time Graudiņa and Kravčenoka, as well as Mārtiņš Pļaviņš with Harald Regza, won the surprisingly high fifth place.
This year, the competitions of the World Tour stage were to take place in Jūrmala, but this tournament was postponed to the next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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