Shanghai, China, April 30, 2013 – Latvian Martins Plavins, bronze medallist from the London 2012 Olympic Games, begins the season with new partner Janis Peda. At the Fuzhou Open last week in China, Plavins and Peda did not make it out of the Qualification Tournament, but Plavins understands that the pair is still developing.
“It’s not a big problem for me. I’m used to it because when I started with Samoilovs, we had zero points. Then after Beijing I changed partners to Smedins, we had about 200 points and all the time we played qualification. When we are ready to play at a higher level we will make it to the Main Draw. I believe that it will take us one season to get in the Main Draw, but it’s OK,” said Plavins.
Plavins won his Olympic medal with former partner Janis Smedins, who played together from 2010-2012, also winning gold at the Stare Jablonki Grand Slam in 2012.
The new year sees Plavins team up with Peda who came fifth at the Junior World Championship in Saint Quay Portrieux in 2003, but had not played competitively since.
“I can say that we have a positive atmosphere in our new team, but technically we are moving very slowly because he hasn’t played beach volleyball for ten years. It’s a lot of time and we need a lot of time to make our partnership work,” said Plavins.
“We are not ready right now, it’s for sure we’re not ready. But I think maybe we will be ready for the World Championships. Maybe. I want to be ready for that because it’s a huge tournament.” Both Latvian teams of Plavins/Peda and Smedins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs will start the Shanghai Grand Slam in the Main Draw and will play their first matches on Wednesday.
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