
WEVZA U21 BVB
TOURNAMENT
20-08-2014
The first WEVZA U21
Beach Volleyball tournament hosted by the Portuguese
Volleyball Federation has already gathered some of the
ingredients that will allow all of those who will travel,
this weekend (23-24 August), to Praia da Ribeira, at
Albufeira do Azibo in Macedo de Cavaleiros, to view some
excellent matches with some of the youngest promises of
the European beach volleyball.
To the natural beauty of the venue where the stadium is
staged – a landscape already considered one of
Portugal’s seven wonders - , it will be added a sport
that has been increasingly gaining more fans and that
has in Macedo de Cavaleiros a reference at national
level.
Diogo Maia / Tomas Silva and Bernardo Leite / José
Jardim, in the men competition, and Margarida Reis /
Maria Tinoco and Vanessa Paquete / Daniela Silva, in the
women event, are the Portuguese teams that will fight
for worthy results in the sport. The technical staff
will be composed by Francisco Fidalgo and Ricardo Rocha,
Pedro Carvalho and Hugo Madruga.
Diogo Maia (18 years old) that participated already in
several international competitions (2 editions of the
CPLP, U18 European Championships in Lithuania and the
U20 European Championships in Austria) achieved along
with Tomas Silva (19 years old) one of the most relevant
results for the youngsters beach volley: the 9th place
in the U19 World Championships held in Porto in 2013.
Bernardo Leite (17 years old), ranked 25th in this year
U19 WCh teams up with Jose Jardim (18 years old), also
ranked 25th in the U19 Wch result that he added to the
U20 national champion title.
Despite their international experience have been growing
in the last years, the Portuguese players will have to
play against even more experienced and eventually more
ambitious event tough their youth.
From Netherlands travels a team favourite to the first
places, since despite his 17 years old Jasper Bouter
participated this year in 3 World Championships: U19 (ranked
4th) in Porto, U21 (17th) in Lanarca, Cyprus and U23
(41st) in Myslowice, Poland. Bouter will have as partner
Jannes van der Ham (19 years old).
Spain brings two experienced teams.
Javier Huerta (17 years old) and Hugo Rojas (18 years
old) were ranked, this year, 9th in the U19 WCh and in
the CEV Youth Continental Cup Final in Antalya, Turkey,
and last year 17th at the U18 ECh held in Molodechno,
Belarus.
Pablo Penedo e Oscar Sanchez Baluja* have in their
curriculum some relevant results: U17 national champions
and U19 national vice-champions, ranked 3rd in the U17
National Championships (Galiza).
* Replaced Oscar Prades and Adrian Valles, absent by
injury.
In the women competition Margarida Reis (19 years old)
and Maria Tinoco (18), ranked 17th in the 2013 U19 WCh,
are giving continuity to a partnership that allowed them
to achive, last year, the U20 national championship
title.
Vanessa Paquete (19) ranked 17th in the 2013 U19 WCh and
gold medal in the 2010 CPLP Games (Mozambique) teams up
with Daniela Silva, a year younger and 33rd ranked in
the U19 WCh.
The strongest opposition to the Portuguese ambitions may
come from the neighbour Spain.
Aida Etxebarria (19 years old) and Nerea Izagirre (19)
play together since 2013 being ranked 25th in the 2013
U20 ECh and achieving interesting results in national
events. Maria Palet (19 years old) ranked 9th in the
2012 U18 ECh, plays with Carla Alocén (18) ranked 25th
in the U18 ECh.
The team from Netherlands composed by Loladina
Zwaanswijk (16 years old) and Marky Bak (19) have been
achieving relevant results in their national BVB
championships.
Francisco Fidalgo, national coach and coordinator of the
Beach Volleyball High Performance Training Centres of
the Portuguese NF, is conscientious of the opportunity
that the WEVZA tournament constitutes for his young
players, as well as the difficulties that they will face
by playing athletes in constant evolution.
“Portugal, similarly to Spain and Netherlands, mainly in
the men, will take this tournament to prepare for future
events, such as the U20 ECh, and simultaneously to bring
continuity to the work developed with the youngsters”,
adding: “one of the ideas that was in the foundation of
the WEVZA was the creation of more opportunities for the
countries to be able to develop the work that have with
the younger players. Even if in this first edition only
three countries are represented, the path for the future
will be the player’s massive participation, since the
tournament represents an excellent opportunity for the
players to compete with opponents with similar ages and
already at a significant level. Even if it’s always
premature to advance goals in terms of results, it’s
obvious that we would like to obtain good results, since
they are always important, even more since we play at
home. Macedo de Cavaleiros as an amazing setting,
unusual for this kind of international competitions, but
that has welcomed for the 5th consecutive time, the
finals of the BVB national championships, as well as the
last finals of the Subs championships. It will be
interesting to show, internationally, that we are able
to integrate the sport in a scenario of extreme natural
beauty, such as Albufeiro do Azibo.”
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