P. Piešina and D. Sinkevičius achieved the highest Lithuanian boys’ result in the European championships of this age group. A year ago, in these championships, P. Piešina with Karolis Palubinskas was fourth.
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The Lithuanians improved their teamwork already in the group stage, where they faced two tough challenges – 2:1 (21:16, 19:21, 15:12) defeating the Turks Ahmet Tur and Tuna Imdatas and 2:1 (13:21, 21:14, 15:12) – Slovenians Benjamin Mugerli and Miha Kosancas.
In the round of 16, P. Piešina and D. Sinkevičius defeated the Poles Marceli Wanata and Jakub Krzeminski 2:0 (21:14, 26:24), and in the quarterfinals 2:0 (21:13, 21:14) left no hope for the Austrians Cooper Boyd and Alexander Sponer.
The fight for the final was extremely dramatic. After an impressive three-set thriller, the Lithuanian beach volleyball players defeated the Swiss Daniel Allemann and Mathis Kalin 2:1 (18:21, 21:14, 16:14), thus securing at least silver medals.
In the final, coached by Tadas Donėla, the Lithuanians challenged the tournament favorites, the world U21 champions from Latvia, Gustavs Auzins and Kristians Fokerots, but eventually had to acknowledge their superiority 0:2 (18:21, 19:21).
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K. Fokerots is one of the most prominent Latvian beach volleyball players, dominating not only in youth but also among adults. This year, together with Latvian legend Martins Plavins, he won the elite “Beach Pro Tour Elite” series tournament in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
P. Piešina and D. Sinkevičius earned part of the prize fund and won 230 world ranking points. According to the law, they will also be entitled to a state scholarship.
In the girls’ tournament, Lithuania was represented by Mėja Matiukaitė and Mėja Gurčiūtė. Much younger than many participants, the Lithuanians took 21st place.
Next week, the European youth championship series will conclude with the U18 championships, which will be held in Turkey.
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