Vienna, Austria. The much-anticipated final stage of the HYPO NOE Beach Volleyball Champions Cup will be taking place today, Saturday, July 11, on the iconic Danube Island in Vienna. The event has provided a much-needed return to competition for the top Austrian Beach Volleyball teams – with four duos per gender securing their participation in the final round after making it through the first and intermediate stages of the event. The competition will resume on Saturday morning at 10 am with live streaming on Laola1.tv and tickets for the fans still available on oeticket.at.
Philipp Seel, Secretary General of the Austrian Volleyball Association: “The preparations were very intensive, after all it was a matter of getting a great project under COVID-19 conditions up and running in a very short time. The whole Beach Volleyball family worked together to make it possible!”
Christoph Dressler and Alexander ‘Xandi’ Huber were among the teams that achieved much success in the early stages of the event. “It is great for us athletes that we have games again thanks to the HYPO NOE Beach Volleyball Champions Cup. In Klagenfurt – after some difficulties – and in Graz we were satisfied with our performance. The semi-final against Tobias Winter and Julian Hörl is sure to be an exciting story!” said Huber at a press conference held earlier this week in Vienna.
Christoph Dressler: “Xandi and I get along very well. He is the experienced player from whom I can learn a lot. Our focus is currently – adjusted to the current situation – on the national level. Internationally, there may be a tournament in Slovenia in August where we want to start.”
Home stars and 2017 World Championship silver medallists Clemens Doppler / Alexander Horst will be playing Robin Seidl and Philipp Waller in the other men’s semi-final. “In Austria all teams are always particularly motivated to beat us, you always like to play against the vice world champions,” Doppler said. “We are glad that we have achieved the minimum goal, the top 4, at the HYPO NOE Beach Volleyball Champions Cup. The semi-final is against Seidl / Waller, so we want to take revenge for the defeat we suffered last Saturday in Graz. We enjoy playing for the fans and it is nice that spectators will be able to attend. I hope it will be a Beach Volleyball party. Our main goal is to secure participation in the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Until July 2021, there is time to be among the top 16 in the world and to qualify. Unfortunately, we do not know how many World Tour tournaments there will be until then. Olympic tickets will also be at stake via the Continental Cup, but we are more likely to use the World Tour!”
Alex Horst: “The first weeks of the COVID-19 crisis were strange but we worked on our fitness. It was not possible to do anything else. Then activities re-started slowly. Now we are happy that we have competitions again with the HYPO NOE Beach Volleyball Champions Cup. HYPO NOE has been our partner since 2017, a great sponsor. It is a good thing that such a large company is behind our sport!”
In the women’s semis, top-seeded twins Nadine and Teresa Strauss play Franziska Friedl/Eva Pfeffer, while Julia Radl/Anja Dörfler take on Dorina Klinger and her Norwegian interim partner Oda Ulveseth.
Martin Ermacora takes a break!
Martin Ermacora, bronze medal winner from EuroBeachVolley 2019 and the leader of the Austrian Beach Volleyball ranking, takes a break from elite sport. The 26-year-old Tyrolean feels empty and would like to use the international tournament break caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to recharge his batteries so that he can start the upcoming Olympic season with fresh energy.
“Martin’s time out is of course sad news for the Austrian Volleyball Association (ÖVV), but he has our full support. Together with his partner Moritz Pristauz, we will explore solutions and the further course of action as quickly as possible in the next few days and weeks,” explains ÖVV President Gernot Leitner.
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Photo Credit:Point of View GmbH
