| |
|
Germany’s Women and Spain’s Men on course to win the Beach Nations Cup®
Berlin, 04 February 2006: The German Women and the Spanish Men are ahead 1:0 in the Final before the decisive final day tomorrow
The German women and the Spanish men are on course to win gold at the Beach Nations Cup® Final 2006 presented by NESTEA. The host nation as well as the southern Europeans both lead their final 1:0. The bronze medallists of the NESTEA European Championship Final 2005 Stephanie Pohl and Okka Rau beat the respective silver medallists Rebecca Kadijk/Merel Mooren (NED) in straight sets (24:22, 23:21); the Spaniards John Garcia/Alex Ortiz topped the World Championship bronze medallists Kjell Schneider and his new partner David Klemperer in three sets (19:21, 21:17, 15:8). Thus both teams only need one victory in the two remaining “singles” and “doubles” matches. All of these matches will take place on Sunday. Switzerland is ahead 1:0 in the bronze medal match after the Olympic bronze medallists Patrick Heuscher/Stefan Kobel defeated Vegard Hoidalen/Terje Overgaard (NOR) in straight sets (21:16, 21:14). In the semi-finals Spain had defeated Switzerland 2:1 and Germany had defeated Norway 2:1 after winning their “doubles” (“four on four”) matches.
The first women’s match in the semi-finals was well balanced for two sets – but in the end Pohl/Rau took advantage of their third set point in both sets to take the 1:0 lead for Germany. Okka Rau was happy after their victory: “It was a good game on both sides on the receiving end. In the end we just served better. It is nice to start like this. Now I am optimistic we will win the Beach Nations Cup®.”
This is rather questionable for Germany on the men’s side. Klemperer/Schneider were defeated after a good start by the newly formed Spanish duo Garcia/Ortiz, who seemed more juiced on the court. David Klemperer is optimistic despite the setback: “The first set went well, then we just caved in. That can happen this time of year while we are still working on our strength conditioning. But I am still optimistic that we will turn this thing around and win the Beach Nations Cup®.”
Switzerland is ahead 1:0 against Norway in the race for third place. The Olympic bronze medallists from the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens Patrick Heuscher/Stefan Kobel beat the Norwegian duo Vegard Hoidalen/Terje Overgaard convincingly in straight sets (21:16, 21:14). Stefan Kobel was pleased with the result: “We played very well on the receiving end and only allowed two aces on the Norwegian’s risky serves.”
|
|
|
|
|
;)