Dutch Teams Secure Double Gold at WEVZA U20 Zonal Qualifier

The Dutch national anthem was heard twice at the Lorca International Beach Volleyball Centre (CIVP) on Sunday. Following intense competition, Dutch teams successfully claimed the gold medal in both the men`s and women`s categories at the WEVZA U20 Beach Volleyball Championships, which served as a zonal qualifier for this year’s #EuroBeachVolleyU20.

In the women’s competition, Nigella Negenman and Esmee Radstake of the Netherlands faced a challenging match, needing to overcome an excellent first set played by Germany’s Sophia Neuss and Clara Dressen to ultimately secure a hard-fought victory. Earlier, in a somewhat surprising outcome, Italy’s Carola Tesoro and Asia Aliotta lost the bronze medal match to Belgium’s Lotte De Clercq and Lola Bombeke in a match that went to three sets, with the final set ending dramatically at 24-22 in favour of the Belgian pair.

The men`s event mirrored the Dutch success, although Italy`s Matteo Iurisci and Gabriel Marini Da Costa made things very difficult for their opponents, particularly in the second set. The skilled crowd at the CIVP seemed to favour the Italians for the win. However, their predictions proved incorrect as the Dutch team of Tom Sonneville and Bram van der Wel demonstrated a high level of skill and composure in the third set, leaving the exhausted Italian team unable to close out the match in their favour. The bronze medal in the men`s event went to Italy’s Andrea Sanguanini and Matteo Marchesan, who narrowly defeated Switzerland’s Daniel Allemann and Livio Friedli in the third-place playoff.

As a result of the tournament, the top two national federations in each gender have secured their qualification spots for this year’s #EuroBeachVolleyU20. For the women, these are the Netherlands and Germany, and for the men, it is the Netherlands and Italy.

The weekend in Lorca was a great success, highlighting the spirit of sportsmanship among all participating teams. Many of these young athletes will reunite later this summer in Madrid for the European Championships in this age category, where host nation Spain is expected to aim for a more significant performance.