News Beach volleyball 25/07/2014 Top teams thrive at U21 World Championships Larnaka, Cyprus, July 25,2014 – Top teams in both the women’s and men’s competition of the FIVB BeachVolleyball U21 World Champions in Larnaka laid down early markers on the secondday of main draw. With one more round of poolmatches to go on Saturday Switzerland’s Betschart/Eiholzer and USA’s Hughes/Claesalready secured top position in their pool. Germany’s Wickler/Schneider,Poland’s Bryl/Kujawiak and Brazil’s Andre/Vinicius did the same in the men’scompetition. Key points· The FIVBU21 World Championships have been held every year since 2001, but this willchange to every other year.· On Sunday anew U21 champion will be crowned in the men’s competition since last year’swinners Guto/Allison are not here to defend their title. · In thewomen’s competition Poland’s Kociolek/Gruszscynska still have a chance to winback-to-back U21 gold. Lithuania and Russia oncourse to clash for top position in pool EWith four straight wins eachIeva Dumbauskaite and Monika Povilaityte from Lithuania and Russia’s KseniaDabizha and Anna Gorbunova will clash on Saturday for top position in pool E atthe FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships in Larnaka. Dumbauskaite and Povilaityte defeated Roman/Biver (21-12, 21-7) from PuertoRico and Costa Rica’s Gonzalez/Arias (21-11, 21-8) on Friday. Their other twopool matches against Austria and St. Lucia on Thursday were easy wins too, sothe Lithuanian girls have not been really tested yet. Readmore Germany’s Wickler on trackfor another age group medalReigning U19 world championClemens Wickler is on track for another medal, but this time on a higher level;the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships. Although he is competingwith a different partner and still has one pool match to go, the 19-year oldGerman already secured first place in the pool on Friday. Wickler and his new teammate Mirko Schneider booked two more wins on Friday toclaim top position in pool F. They defeated France’s Thiercy/Di Giantommaso(21-10, 21-17) and Lithuania’s Rumsevicius/Kazdailis (23-25, 25-23, 15-12). Readmore Hagen Smith destined to playbeach volleyballBeach volleyball has alwaysbeen his destiny, although Hagen Smith’s famous father Sinjin wanted him toplay tennis. So this week 19-year old Hagen took the next step and made hisFIVB debut at the U21 World Championships in Larnaka, Cyprus. Christopher St. John ‘Sinjin’ played in more beach volleyball events than anyother player. He finished 5th at the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996, won twoWorld Championships, ten FIVB events and was crowned FIVB World Tour championfour times. He named his oldest son Hagen after his first partner, Ron vanHagen. Readmore Egypt only lacks one out ofthree S’s to make beach volleyball work’Egypt only lacks one out ofthe three S’s to make beach volleyball work, says Egypt U21 coach and formerplayer Ahmed Atta. “We have Sun, Sea, but unfortunately not the Sponsors yet.” The 36-year old Atta competed at the Chennai Challenger and The Hague Open in2010 and still plays on the national tour, but is also coach of all thenational teams in Egypt. This week he coaches Mohamed Abdelhady and MohamedSayedin at the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships in Cyprus. Readmore The final round of pool playwill start at 8.00 on Saturday, followed by the first and second eliminationround. The quarterfinals, semifinals and medal matches for both genders arescheduled for Sunday. All days will feature evening matches. Larnaka, the third largestcity on Cyprus behind Nicosia and Limassol, is hosting a FIVB age group eventfor the second time. Two years ago the U19 World Championships were held in theCypriot tourist resort. The U21 World Championshipsare the third of four FIVB age group events this year. Next week Porto willhost the U19 World Championships. Print this Page News {{item.LocalShortDate}} {{item.Title}} All the News