Not in the sand
"Gazprom-Ugra", The debut in the beach volleyball in the final of the Russian Cup draw, lost in both group matches to teams from the St. Petersburg System "Zenit". Matches, recall, Passed in St. Petersburg.
In the first game 17 July, our guys Vladimir Starodubtsev and Dmitry Bagmetov showed very serious resistance to the first team of Zenit Evert/Martynenko, having a fifth rating among 32 tournament participants. In both lost games the home team's advantage was minimal, 21:19 and 23:21.
The next day in the match for third place in the group, giving the right to participate in the first round of the playoffs, Gazprom-Yugra lost to the second team of Zenit Rukhmanov/Shchelkunov 16:21, 15:21. Nevertheless, and this game showed the ability of the Surgut residents to take a blow. The debut tournament at such a high level is over for us, the experience gained is invaluable.
Coach of the Gazprom-Ugra team Mikhail Smetanin: "Good, that we managed to provide decent resistance to stronger teams, managed to keep the score equal. Let me emphasize again, that we were in one of the strongest groups in the tournament. by the way, the Zenit coach stayed at the game of his second team with us, but didn’t go to the match for first place in the group with the Cubans: it was more important to him, so that the second team also makes it to the playoffs. Felt, that they might not get there with us.
On the second day we were completely dismantled, although we were ready for it. The reason for the defeat is simple: while we are losing serve-receive. We don't work at that speed in training and we don't encounter it in those tournaments., which we play on. It’s impossible to immediately come and win at this level. Но мы не ударили в грязь лицом и сыграли где-то даже красиво. Yesterday, eg, про нас весь Питер говорил, когда мы едва не зацепили первую команду «Зенита».
