All aboard for the Antalya Open

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Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst are top seeds for the Antalya Open this week but will they be celebrating in Turkey come the weekend? Photo credit: Joerg Mitter

No pain, no gain and no rest for the wicked!

It’s those kind of clichés which hop around on the back of beach volleyball players every season and follow them from the last World Tour location to the next.

Two weeks in China, a week in Brazil at Fortaleza and then back across the Atlantic to Sochi. That’s 25,000km of travelling and a lot of air miles.

So this week the players who have been there, done that but not quite bought the t-shirt over the past month have made the relatively short 1,500km journey to one of Turkey’s hottest tourist spots for the Antalya Open.

And before you can question us and say ‘I think you’ll find that’s taken place already…’ we’ll be firing that ball back over the net with a response so quick you won’t have time to dig it back.

Yes, the Antalya Open is back for the second time in seven months – and we can still picture the grinning faces and the biting of precious metal all that time ago.

Last October’s tournament ended a 17-year wait for a FIVB World Tour tournament in Turkey – and it’s fair to say it was big success. And that’s why it’s back!

It’s certainly proving to be popular with the women. Gold medal winners from 2015, Marketa Slukova and Barbora Hermannova from Czech Republic are back to defend their title, while Jennifer Kessy/Emily Day (USA) will be aiming to better their bronze.

However, a quick glance at the preliminary seedings reveal they face a fight to win succeed again. Fresh from finding out the smart Major Hamburg joined the Swatch Major Series family, German duo Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst and Karla Borger are the provisional first seeds.

Of the medal winners from the last men’s tournament only Latvian pair Martins Plavins and Haralds Regza, who picked up bronze, are back for more.

The top two seeds this year, however, both hail from Holland. Preliminary top seeds are Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst, while winners of our Poreč Major last year Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen are also going for gold.

Competition will be as fierce as always and the wait is almost over. Beachside action in Antalya kicks-off with the women’s qualification rounds on Tuesday.

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