Semi-finalists for the 2011 CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup revealed
The fight for the Olympic slots among the European Men’s Teams is in full swing these days and after successfully completing the sub-zonal stage of the Continental Cup, a total of 24 European teams have made it to the next stage of the Zonal Cup Tournament.
The teams were divided into pools, where each pool accommodated six teams. The composition of pools is as followed:
Pool A – Russia, Switzerland, Great Britain, Latvia, France, and Bulgaria
Pool B – Spain, Norway, Czech Republic, Austria, Serbia, and Slovakia
Pool C – Netherlands, Turkey, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, and Romania
Pool D – Estonia, Poland, Germany, Greece, Ukraine, and Sweden
Pool A teams broke the ice on Thursday and staged the first match of the CEV Beach Volleyball Continental Cup Zonal Phase tournament. The Russian city of Kazan hosted the Pool A matches. After heated competitions, the following four teams settled for the
semi-final slots:
1. Latvia
2. Great Britain
3. Russia
4. Switzerland
The host Russia and Switzerland earned the semi-final spots on account of their higher ranking, while Latvia and Great Britain earned it the hard way. They dug up success in the quarter-finals on Thursday. Latvia held off France for an exciting victory.
Similarly, the British team launched its power on the Bulgarian squad and advanced to the semi-finals.
Latvian pair of Martins Plavins and Janis Smedins worked out a great performance at the sands of Kazan and carved their names as another semi-finalist pair. Their opponents were the French tandem composed of brothers Kevin and Andy Cès.
Plavins stated after the match, "We played not so badly, though we didn’t manage to avoid some mistakes. However, that’s quite normal for the start of the playing season. We are currently ranking higher than our French opponents, and that’s why we could
snatch the victory."
Kevin added, "Latvia served a little better then us. They controlled the ball better. They played good, and we played not enough to beat them today."
On the other hand, the pairing of Jody Gooding and Greg Weaver of Great Britain staged a wonderful performance against Bulgaria’s Neven Neshev and Valentin Dimov. The losers of the quarter-finals qualifiers will play the classification match for 5th
and 6th position on Friday, June 3.
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