GOLD MEDAL FOR SPAIN AND NETHERLAND IN THE FIRST WEVZA TOURNAMENT
24-08-2014

Aida Etxebarria and Nerea Izagirre (Spain) and Jasper Bouter / Jannes Van der Ham (Netherlands conquered the champions title of the U21 WEVZA BVB tournament organized by the Portuguese Volleyball Federation, which ended today and that was held at Praia da Ribeira, in Albufeira do Azibo, Macedo de Cavaleiros.

Aida and Nerea didn’t lost any match in a tournament that was highlighted by the level of competition and quality both at sportive and organizational level, and to reach the gold medal won in the final against the Portuguese team Vanessa Paquete and Daniela Silva by 2-1 (15/21, 22/20, 15/7).
We are very happy with the first place in the tournament and pleased with our performance and to be the first champions in this WEVZA event. The Portuguese team is very good, difficult to play against and complicated very much our match in the final, but we didn’t give up and were rewarded with the victory. The level of competition is good and the teams very balanced. We’ve enjoyed very much to have played this first WEVZA U21 tournament, even more in a location with these natural conditions”.

Pedro Carvalho, coach of the Portuguese team Paquete / Silva, highlighted: “Despite the defeat, we have to be pleased with our performance. Vanessa and Dani played a good match. We had opportunity to close the second set in our advantage, but made errors and failed our goal. We are sad with the defeat, but the balance is positive. We were the only team that was close to win against this Spanish team, but they ended up by being stronger and we have to give them congratulations for the victory. The players gain much experience in this kind of tournaments. A part from that it was very good that the event was hosted here, in Albufeira do Azibo, that doesn’t have much tradition in volleyball, but presents already a public very interested in our sport. The venue is magnificent and we had the support and incentive of all the people”.

MEN’S FINAL SERVED AS REARSAL
FOR THE U20 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS

In the men event, Netherland won (2-0: 24/22, 21/13) against the Portuguese Diogo Maia and Tomas Silva.
These two teams will play the U20 European Championships that will be held in Italy, from 4-7 September.

The restless Jasper Bouter gathered the title of U21 WEVZA champion to the results obtained this year in three world championships: U19 (4th place) (Porto, Portugal), U17 (17th) (Lanarca, Cyprus) and U23 (41st) (Myslowice, Poland).

It was a difficult, but tasteful, win because obviously to public was cheering by the Portuguese team. It was the best way to end this tournament, that is going to leave me good memories of this play, such as the lake, it’s very pleasant and the people are all very nice. I’ve enjoyed very much being here and, apart from the title, it was an excellent preparation for the U20 European Championships” said Jannes.

Diogo Maia and Tomas Silva were defeated by not totally convinced.
“The semifinal was very difficult and physically hard. We are very tired, and thus we were unable to give our best, but we felt that we didn’t disappoint the public with our commitment to the match and that was the most important. The next competition is the U20 European Championships and we’ll that advantage of the analysis of our performance in this tournament, mainly in the final match. It’s hard to say if the gold medal was well delivered, because of our exhibition yesterday against this same team, and the way we played conditioned, we had believed that we’ve could won the tournament. I think that today the tiredness was equal for both teams, but they are taller and used that advantage well. Congratulations because they’ve demonstrated competence.
We’ve would like to won the tournament but our goal was to take advantage of this experience at a quite reasonable competition level to prepare for the participation in the U20 ECh and I believe that these analysis will be very helpful for the work we are developing with our technical staff”.

BRONZE MEDAL FOR
NETHERLAND AND SPAIN

Loladina Zwaanswijk and Marly Bak, reached the bronze medal by winning by 2-1 (17/21, 21/18, 15/9) against the Portuguese Margarida Reis and Maria Tinoco.
“We are happy with the third place, even though we consider that we’ve could had done better in the semifinal match (defeated by 1-2 against the Spanish). These tournaments are very good to prepare for competitions such as European or World Championships since the level of the players is significant. We love the venue (Albufeira do Azibo), which is very beautiful, and the people are very nice and welcoming. The organization of the tournament has also to be congratulated, everything is impeccable” highlighted Loladina and Marly.

In the men's event, Javier Huerta and Hugo Rojas defeated the Portuguese team Jose Jardim and Bernardo Leite by 2-0 (25/23, 22/20).
“We cannot be happy with the third place. It’s true that it’s a U21 tournament and we have 19 years old and that the level of the teams at the event is high, but we wanted more. We came with that in mind and entered very well in the tournament… It’s too bad, but this tournament served also to analyse and correct our errors.
A part from that, all was great, since Azibo is truly amazing and it’s proof that the beach volleyball events don’t need to be always in beaches all alike. This one is different and we have here all that is necessary for the success of a competition.

Felipe Pascual, the Competition Director, was satisfied with the course of the first WEVZA U21 BVB tournament.

The Spanish highlighted the keys points of this kind of competition, its most sensitive aspects in terms of competition and the repercussion that it may have in the future of beach volleyball of the Old Continent.

“The balance is very positive. It's the first time that WEVZA hosts a competition of this age group. It’s very interesting since allows the teams to prepare for the intensive work that is being developed by the 8 countries from WEVZA, and equally for events such as the Under Age European and World Championships. The athletes are very pleased and expressed already their satisfaction, since there are many countries that have difficulties in competing frequently at the highest level and these WEVZA tournaments, played by European teams with already a certain experience allows interesting matches, providing the necessary experience to take a qualitative leap.
This tournament integrates very well a series of international beach volley events. This first edition is staged in this beautiful region of Macedo de Cavaleiros and I believe that it will have similar success in other WEVZA countries.
We have to be ambassadors of optimism in what regards the future of this competition either to WEVZA or the European Volleyball Confederation itself. What impressed me the most, was the experience of all the people involved in the organization. All incredible and that immediately translates in the satisfaction of the players and the quality of the organization. For me it feels like I am at home”.