News Beach volleyball 11/06/2014 Top teams stay on track on first day of U23 World Champions Myslowice, Poland, June 11,2014 - The top teams at the FIVB Beach Volleyball U23 World Championships inMyslowice showed their strength on the first day of main draw in hot and sunnySlupna Park. The only hiccup on Wednesdaywas the 2-0 loss of first seeded Polish team Jagoda Gruszczynska and KarolinaBaran in the women’s tournament. Second seeded Nicole Lairdand Mariafe Artacho from Australia, Austria’s Lena Plesiutschnig and KatharinaSchützenhöfer (3rd) and last year’s bronze medallists Melissa Humana-Paredesand Taylor Pischke (4th) from Canada all booked two straight wins. In the men’s competition the2013 champion and first seeded Bartosz Losiak and his new partner Michal Bryl didthe same, as did the 2013 bronze medallists Lorenz Petutschnig and TobiasWinter (2nd seeded) from Austria, Brazil’s U21 champions Allison Cittadin andGustavo Carvalhaes (3rd) and Norway’s Andreas Takvam and Runar TorsvikSannarnes (4th). Also interesting was the factthat two lucky losers remained without set loss in main draw: Latvia’sHaralds/Armands in the men’s and USA’s Larsen/Metter in the women’s competition. Qualification dropouts Larsenand Metter come back strong as U23 lucky losersLosing in qualification,being put on the reserve list, getting in as lucky losers at the last momentand winning two matches in main draw. USA’s Kelley Larsen and Betsi Metterexperienced it all within 24 hours at the FIVB Beach Volleyball U23 World Championshipsin Myslowice. The Americans, at their firstinternational event, had to wait until the last second to see if Nigeria wouldshow. The African team was stuck in customs at the airport and for long it wasnot clear if they would get a visa. Readmore Puerto Rican debutants giveAustrian medal contenders a bit of a scarePuerto Ricans Kevin JoelRodriguez and Christian Encarnacion made an impressive international debut onWednesday at the FIVB Beach Volleyball U23 World Championships in Myslowice. The young duo took a surprise three-point-lead in the first set against lastyear’s bronze medallists Lorenz Petutschnig and Tobias Winter from Austria.They eventually lost the match 2-0 (21-19, 21-12) but their performance againstthe 2nd seeded team was promising. Readmore Turkish beach volleyball: thefuture is brightBeach volleyball in Turkeyhas some strong competition from volleyball, like in many countries. Youngplayers are attracted by the money, role models and superstars like NeslihanDemir and Naz Aydemir. But it’s time for change, says Ozkan Mutlugil, president of the TurkishVolleyball Federation. The federation contracted the experienced Braziliancoach Carlos ‘Alemao’ Galletti and started building beach volleyball centresall over the country. Readmore The second edition of theFIVB U23 World Championships continues on Thursday with two more rounds of poolplay. An amazing total of 72 matches will be played, starting at 8.00 on the sixcourts in Slupna Park. The fifth and final pool roundis scheduled for Friday, as is the first single elimination round. The top 4 ofeach of the 6 pools per gender advance to the knockout phase, the pool winnersand the two best runners-up earn a bye in the first round. The semifinals andmedal matches for both genders are played on Sunday. The U23 World Championshipsare the first of four FIVB age-group events this year. Next stop will be theU17 in Mexico (July 15-20), followed by the U21 in Cyprus (22-27) and the U19in Porto (July 29-August 3). In August China stages the Youth Olympic Games,including beach volleyball. FIVB U23Tournament PageFIVB U23Men’s ResultsFIVB U23Women’s ResultsFIVB U23Twitter Account Print this Page News {{item.LocalShortDate}} {{item.Title}} All the News