The European Beach Volleyball Championship will take place again on Majori Beach

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After a day’s break, when the European beach volleyball championships were held in Mārupe on Friday, the competition will take place again on Saturday and Sunday at Majori beach in Jūrmala, the organizers of the competition report.

It has already been reported that the games did not take place in the European Championship on Thursday, because the strong wind had flooded the playgrounds. Therefore, on Friday, the matches took place in the outdoor areas of the Ruukki Beach Stadium in Mārupe.

Despite the adverse weather conditions and the damage of the storm, the venue of the European Championship on Majori Beach, thanks to the response of the volunteers, has managed to prepare for the future games of the tournament during the day.

Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Edgars Točs, who will be placed in the fourth round of the tournament, will start the day of the tournament on the first square of Majori Beach on Saturday, at 10 am, with the second round of the playoffs.

An hour later, the Latvian duo Aleksandrs Samoilovs / Jānis Šmēdiņš, posted in the central square with number 16, will fight with the Russian duo Nikita Lamins / Tarass Miskivs (11th).

European champions Graudiņa and Kravčenoka (5th) will no longer be able to defend their title, as in the second round of the elimination tournament on Friday they lost 0-2 (16:21, 13:21) to Italians Marta Menegati and Victoria Orsi Tota (11th).

The organizers warn that due to seat restrictions and changes in the sectors of the central stadium, additional tickets for the tournament days will no longer be available on sale. Only those visitors who have purchased tickets in advance will be able to be present in the stands of the stadium. In addition, all spectators should be aware that the seat may be changed.

The men’s quarter-finals and quarter-finals will take place on Saturday, and the duel for the prize-winning places is scheduled for Sunday. The semi-finals of the women’s tournament will also take place on Saturday.

European Beach Volleyball Championship It takes place in Jurmala from September 15 to 20. The 32-pair men’s and women’s tournament brings together the best European beach volleyball men’s 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 Joan Heidrich / Anuka Verge-Depre, the Olympic Olympic champion Laura Ludwig from Germany, who plays with Margaret Kozuh, and the Czech Marketa Slukova / Barbora Hermanova.

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 Stoyanovskis, Olympic vice-champions from Italy Daniele Lupo / Paolo Nikolai and Spanish veterans European ex-champions Pablo Erera / Adrian Gavira want to win, as well as other strong foreign and both domestic 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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