2019-05-26 21:19:00 CEST
From the World Tour to National Tours, several tournaments were played last weekend
Walsh Jennings and Sweat won their first tournament together (Photocredit: FIVB)
Hello, beach volleyball fans! It’s Monday and a new week is just ahead of us, but we cannot jump right into it before we have properly closed the one that’s just over, right?
So, this past weekend was a busy one, with elite beach volleyball been played at international, continental and national levels and, as you should expect, here’s our summary of all that happened.
Enjoy!
World Tour champions in Asia
Kerri Walsh Jennings returned to the top of the podium at the World Tour for the first time in almost three years as the American legend and partner Brooke Sweat claimed gold at the four-star event in Jinjiang, China. The team started the tournament in the qualifier and went undefeated, with just one set dropped, all the way to win gold with a 21-17, 21-19 victory over Australians Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho. Brazil’s Ana Patricia Ramos and Rebecca Cavalcanti finished third.
“It’s been so long, it just feels good, it feels good to play well as a team, it feels good to improve, it feels so good to finish on top,” Walsh Jennings, who became the oldest woman to win a World Tour event at the age of 40, said. “The world is so good at volleyball so you have to be the best on that day to win and we played great and it was so fun”.
The legendary American won her 56rd World Tour event in Jinjiang while Sweat celebrated her first victory at the international level. They’ve put an USA team at the top of the podium for the second-straight week after April Ross and Alix Klineman won the Itapema Open last Sunday.
The Vikings were flanked by two Brazilian teams at the podium in Jinjiang (Photocredit: FIVB)
As it happened in the Brazilian city, the men’s podium had world ranking leaders Anders Mol and Christian Sørum on top. The Beach Volley Vikings collected their second gold in just eight days after they took down Brazilians Evandro Goncalves and Bruno Schmidt in the three-set (14-21, 21-17, 15-12) final in Jinjiang. Another Brazilian team, the one of Andre Loyola and George Wanderley, took bronze, their first medal together.
“It’s been a really intense week, we fought through last week six games, now again we came with the jet lag all the way to China and we didn’t really expect to play well because we feel bad after a long travel,” Mol explained. “But we managed to rally and get this gold medal, it feels amazing.”
Boracay, in the Philippines, was the other Asian city to host a World Tour event last weekend, a one-star. Japanese teams dominated the tournament, taking home four of the six medals in play. Among the women, Satono Ishitsubo and Asami Shiba were first and Sakurako Fujii and Minori Kumada were second, followed by Australia’s Brittany Kendall and Stefanie Weiler. Among the men, Thailand’s Narongdet Kangkon and Banlue Nakprakhong where the winners, followed by two Japanese teams - Yuya Ageba/Nobuaki Taira and Jumpei Ikeda/Katsuhiro Shiratori.
Switzerland and France win CEV Continental Cup pools
The area of Leyton, in London, England, staged the pool B for men and women at the first phase of the European Continental Cup, the region’s qualification process to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The tournament was disputed in a team format, with two duos representing each nation, and the top two in each gender advanced to the second phase.
Among the women, France, which was represented by World Tour regulars Alexandra Jupiter/Aline Chamereau and Lezana Placette/Clemence Vieira, topped squads from England, Belarus and Northern Ireland. Belarus secured the other berth for the second phase.
In the men’s event, Marco Krattiger/Nico Beeler and Adrian Heidrich/Mirco Gerson placed Switzerland at the top over teams from England and Armenia. The English took the second place and also advanced.
National Tour winners in Europe
At the national level, a few tournaments were played in Europe this weekend. In Utrecht, the Netherlands, Brazilians Moises Santos and Vinicius Freitas secured their second title in eight days as they had won last week’s Swiss Tour stop. Dutchmen Christiaan Varenhorst and Steven van de Velde were second and Jasper Bouter and Ruben Penninga finished third. Among the women, Emi van Driel/Raisa Schoon took gold, Emma Piersma/Pleun Ypma won silver and Sophie van Gestel/Marloes Wesselink captured bronze.
In Latvia, the National Tour kicked off in Ventspils and home favorites Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins took gold in a final against Janis’ brother, Toms and Haralds Regza. The women’s title went to Lithuania’s Vytene Vitkauskaite and Urte Andriukaityte, who defeated the home team of Anete Namike and Varvara Brailko.
Finally, in the Czech Republic, World Championship-bound Perusic/Schweiner took the men's prize while Kvapilova/Kubickova secured the women's gold.