FIVB Antalya Open and U21 Lucerne recap - Articles

There were two major beach events this past weekend, the FIVB Antalya Open in Turkey and the FIVB Under 21 World Beach Championships, the latter including some of the NCAA Beach players who were in action in Gulf Shores, Ala., last weekend. Janis Smedins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs of Latvia Antalya won gold. The fourth-seeded pair received a walkover in the gold-medal final as Lars Fluggen re-aggravated his left meniscus from an injury in April that required surgery. On their way to the final, Smedins/Samolilovs beat three Polish teams, No. 14 Kadziola/Szalankiewicz of Poland 2-0 (21-18, 21-16), No. 26 Bryl/Kujawiak 2-1 (21-15, 23-25,15-9), and No. 6 Fijalek/Prudel 2-1 (18-21, 25-23, 15-13). Fijalek/Prudel took bronze in a 21-14, 21-13 win over Kotsilianos/Zoupanis of Greece. Kotsilianos/Zoupanis semifinal finish is the first ever for Greece. Ninth-seeded seeded Fluggen/Bockermann marched into the finals by virtue of wins over No. 12 Kapa/McHugh (Australia) 21-16, 21-18), No. 3 Hyden/Bourne (USA) 21-19, 16-21, 15-11), No. 1 Nummerdor/Varenhorst (Netherlands), as well as avenging an earlier pool play loss to qualifiers Georgios Kotsilianos/Nikos Zoupanis (Greece) 21-16, 21-17. The Fluggen injury comes at a critical time in the Olympic qualification process. a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJDaztK1k74> Interview courtesy of FIVB here: With only three events remaining, Fluggen/Bockermann are fighting to stay in the top 17 to earn an Olympic berth. Fluggen/Bockermann added 210 points to their total this weekend to reach 4,610 points and 14th place. Germany does not currently have three teams in the top 17, so Fluggen/Bockermann can qualify by either finishing in the top 17 or by...

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