Anapa, Russia, July 25, 2013 – Argentina’s Ana Gallay and Georgina Klug can be heard a mile away. During their matches the two South-American girls shout, scream and make heads turn at the FIVB Anapa Open with their very outgoing way of playing beach volleyball.
“Argentinean people usually play like that, with
alegria [joy], screaming and maybe stressing the other team out”, Klug said.
“I played indoor for a long time and I always played like that. All the players from the other teams hated me. But I think it’s good, because you show the other team that you want to win. Even when you lose, they can feel you want it.”
“For me sport is like that. That’s what I want to show my opponent, if you want to win you have to be better than me and you have to fight more than me. So that’s how we play.”
Juliana and LarissaThe racket they make might also compensate the fact that they measure only 1,72 and 1,73 metres. “We are short, yes. When we started talking about playing together we took Juliana and Larissa as an example. We always watched their matches."
“Maybe we will never be as good as them, but we have to try to play like them. Touching all the balls, fighting for every point, try to pass and make a perfect side-out. That’s how we try to play and that’s how we want to continue playing until the next Olympic Games. Just keep fighting.”
At the Anapa Open their way of playing turned out to be very effective. Gallay and Klug topped the pool with 2-0 wins over Germany’s Kim Behrens and Sandra Seyfferth and Russia’s Irina Chaika and Ekaterina Syrtseva and a 2-1 win over Japan’s Samaa Miyagawa and Ayumi Kusano.
“Very exciting”, Klug said after their final pool match against Russia on Thursday. “Since this is only our second FIVB event together.”
Gallay used to play with Maria Virginia Zonta, with whom she competed at the London Olympic Games, finishing 5th. This season she teamed up with 29-year old Klug.
Before the Anapa Open they competed at the Gstaad Grand Slam two weeks ago. In Switzerland they won one pool match against the Finnish Nystrom twins, enough to advance, but they lost in the first elimination round, finishing 17th.
“In Switzerland we really had to fight to get into the main draw. But when we beat Finland it was already a dream for us.”
One step more than Switzerland
“After that we were training hard in Stuttgart preparing for this event, because we knew that no so many teams from the top 20 were going to be here. So we said, ok, our next goal is to go one more step than Switzerland.”
And they did, by topping the pool they automatically advanced to the second knockout round. “So that’s why we played with all our energy today. Just for one step more. And now we will take a rest and think about our next dream.”
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