The opening event of the Norwegian beach volleyball tour in Oslo had an illustrious guest this weekend as Beach Major Series star Anders Mol took part in the tournament, but the world ranking leader didn’t leave the sand with the gold medal around his neck this time. It was his younger brother, Markus, who did it instead.
As partner Christian Sørum didn’t play in the tournament, Anders joined forces with 25-year-old Bjarne Huus. The duo made it all the way to the final, where they met Anders’ 18-year-old brother Markus and 19-year-old Nils Ringøen, who disregarded their favoritism and posted a come-from-behind 14-21, 21-18, 15-12 victory to top the podium in the country’s capital.
Last September, the brothers had faced each other in the final of a one-star World Tour event in Oslo and Anders, who at the time had Ringøen by his side, came out on top of the duel with Markus and his partner Sørum. Now, it was time for the younger Mol to get his payback.
World Tour regular Ingrid Lunde and Rugilé Lavickyté won the women’s event with a 21-18, 21-12 triumph over Sunniva Helland-Hansen and Thea Luise Jürgensen in the gold medal match.
Latvians dominate Estonian Beach Cup
Estonia also opened its season with the Beach Cup in Teras, an event that attracted several players from neighbor countries. Two of them, Latvians Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs, who are already qualified to the Tokyo Olympics, won the men’s tournament with a 23-25, 21-17, 15-13 victory over home heroes Kusti Nõlvak and Mart Tiisaar. Finnish Jyrki Nurminen and Santeri Siren finished third, while the Samoilovs brothers Aleksandrs and Mihails, from Latvia, were fifth.
Latvia also prevailed in the women’s tournament with Varvara Brailko and Anete Namike defeating compatriot and reigning European champion Anastasija Kravcenoka and Lithuania’s Vytene Vitkauskaite in straight sets (21-18, 21-13) in the final. The country also took bronze with Marta Ozolina and Luize Skrastina.
Eight teams advance in the Austrian Champions Cup
Beach volleyball also returned this weekend in Austria with the opening round of the 2020 Champions Cup. The first stage of the tournament, which will conclude on July 11 in Vienna, had 12 teams in each gender competing in three different locations with eight men’s duos and eight women’s pairs advancing for the second phase, which will be played in the country’s capital and Graz next weekend.
Among the men, the pool winners were Christoph Dressler/Alexander Huber (Klagenfurt), Maximilian Trummer/Felix Friedl (Salzburg) and Robin Seidl/Philipp Waller (Vienna). They will be joined in the second round by Martin Ermacora/Moritz Pristauz, Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst, Tobias Winter/Julian Hörl, Lorenz Petutschnig/Florian Schnetzer and Simon Frühbauer/Michael Murauer.
The top game of the first round saw Seidl and Waller down the 2017 World Championship silver medalists Doppler and Horst 21-15, 21-18 for the top spot of the Vienna pool on Sunday.
“It was brutally hot and the rest time between the first and second matches was very short,” Waller reflected. “Luckily we had a little longer break before the final match and were able to get our energy back. And to play against two legends, we’re always motivated.”
The finalists among the women were led by Julia Radl/Anja Dörfler, Katharina Almer/Stephanie Wiesmeyr and Teresa Strauss/Nadine Strauss, who won the Klagenfurt, Salzburg and Vienna pools, respectively. Franziska Friedl/Eva Pfeffer, Eva Freiberger/Viktoria Fink, Dorina Klinger/Oda Ulveseth, Anna Mayr/Birgit Schöttl and Michaela Hollaus/Julia Mitter have also qualified.
Czech Tour ends with Kvapilová/ Kubíčková on top
In the Czech Republic, though, the women’s national season has come to an end with the fifth event of the season in as many weeks in Strahov. Beach Major Series regulars Michala Kvapilová and Michaela Kubíčková won their second-straight title in a row as they prevailed over Martina Maixnerova and Marie-Sára Štochlová in the gold medal match.
The country also hosted a men’s event in Pnov. World Tour rising star David Schweiner could not pair with regular partner Ondrej Perusic, so he joined forces with Václav Berčík and topped the podium. They dominated Martin Tichý and Jindrich Weiss in the final match.
Borger/Müller and Walkenhorst/Winter on top in Die Beach Liga
The new German event Die Beach Liga completed its second week of play in Düsseldorf. Competition will continue in the city for another two weeks, with the winners set to be known on July 12.
Karla Borger and Svenja Müller are the leaders among the women with 30 points, closely followed by Sarah Schneider and Leonie Körtzinger, who have 28. Alexander Walkenhorst and Sven Winter lead the pack among the men with 26 points, while Max Betzien and Dirk Westphal are second with 22
