European Champions triumph in Blackpool
14th September 2008The Dutch beach volleyball pairing of Reinder Aart Nummerdor and Richard Schuil won a thrilling Nestea European Championship Tour English Masters men’s final in Blackpool this afternoon (Sunday).
The Dutch pairing took gold by beating Switzerland’s Patrick Heuscher and Sascha Heyer 21-15, 21-18 in front of a packed show court at St Chad’s Headland. The event was hosted by VisitBlackpool and the Northwest Development Agency.
It rounded off a terrific men’s tournament that culminated with four teams that competed at this year’s Olympic Games in action in the final and bronze medal match.
The Dutch team have already had an outstanding year, winning the European Championships and reaching the quarter-finals in Beijing.
They started strongly against the Swiss this afternoon, powering their way to a 21-15 victory in the first set. The Schuil serve put the Swiss under intense pressure as he fired in two successive aces late in the set.
The second set was closer, but the Dutch were always in the driving seat and Nummerdor produced a powerful smash to secure gold.
Afterwards Nummerdor said: “Winning is always a good feeling – it’s the best feeling there is. We worked hard to win today. It’s always tough against them, but Richard served really well today, which made things easier for us.”
Schuil added: “We’re really happy to win another tournament. It’s always good to win finals.”
Another Swiss pair in action today, Martin Laciga and Jan Schnider, produced a terrific comeback to beat Germany’s David Klemperer and Eric Koreng to take bronze.
The German’s comfortably took the opening set 13-21, but the Swiss pair battled back to win the second at 21-19.
It all came down to a thrilling deciding set. The two teams had previously met at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – and the result was the same this time around.
The two teams generated a terrific atmosphere in the show court, with the Swiss eventually taking the deciding set by 20-18.
Laciga said: “We didn’t really find our rhythm in the first set – I don’t really know what happened. We didn’t play 100 per cent well, but it was enough to make the big points and we played much better in the second set.
“We’ve only lost two games here, so that’s ok and we’re pleased to have won today.”
Earlier it was a terrific day for the Greek women’s teams, with Vassiliki Arvaniti and Vassiliki Karadassiou (GRE) beating Finland’s Emilia Nystrom and Erika Nystrom to win the final after Efthalia Koutroumanidou and Maria Tsiartsiana, also of Greece, beat Latvia’s Inese Jursone and Inguna Minusa in the bronze medal match.
Results:
Men’s final: Reinder Aart Nummerdor & Richard Schuil (NED) beat Patrick Heuscher & Sascha Heyer (SUI) 21-15, 21-18
Men’s bronze medal match: Martin Laciga & Jan Schnider (SUI) beat David Klemperer & Eric Koreng (GER) 13-21, 21-19, 20-18.
Final: Vassiliki Arvaniti & Vassiliki Karadassiou (GRE) beat Emilia Nystrom & Erika Nystrom (FIN) 21-13, 18-21, 15-11
Bronze medal match: Efthalia Koutroumanidou & Maria Tsiartsiana (GRE) beat Inese Jursone & Inguna Minusa (LAT) 21-9, 21-16.