Umag, Croatia, June 18, 2013 – Nearly 50 men’s and 40 women’s teams from five continents are competing at the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships this week in Umag, Croatia.
The men’s competition will bring forth a new champion this year, as the 2012 Halifax U21 champions Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak from Poland are not competing in the age group tournament.
Umag, a coastal city in the northwest region of Croatia, has never hosted this age group volleyball tournament before, but staged single gender events from 2005 until 2008, and the FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championships in 2011. Betschart aims for three in a row In the women’s competition 17-year-old Nina Betschart from Switzerland will try to claim her third U21 title in a row to set a new record. Betschart won the event in 2011 with Joana Heidrich and 2012 with Anouk Vergé-Dépré, matching the record set by Brazil’s Carolina Solberg (2004 and 2005) and Barbara Seixas (2006 and 2007). The U21 World Championships are staged in the impressive local tennis stadium, well known for its annual ATP-event. The main draw starts Thrusday, June 20 with 32 teams per gender, comprising six teams per gender per FIVB Confederation (with a maximum of one team per gender per country) and two teams per gender for the host country. Pool play and single elimination The teams are competing in eight pools of four teams. The top three teams of each pool advance to the single elimination final phase, which starts Saturday. The semifinals and medal matches will be held Sunday. FIVB U21 World Championships Tournament Page Twitter: @FIVBBVBU21 Facebook: FIVB - International Volleyball Federation YouTube: FIVB Video