The International Volleyball Tournament started at the White Bridge sports field (photos)

On Friday at the renovated beach volleyball court in Vilnius, nearby White bridge, the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) one-star series beach volleyball tournament held for the first time in our country has started.

After various organizational challenges, corrections in the composition of the teams and the preparation of the schedule, the volleyball festival began in Vilnius. Great weather and beautiful fights gave good emotions to both players and spectators.

Ieva Dumbauskaitė and Karolė Virbickaitė took the first place in group C of the women's competition. This duo was playing together for the first time, but despite this, they managed to beat France's Maeva Guignan and Marion Bernard 2-0 (21:18, 21:19) in the group semifinals, and 2-1 (18:21, 21:15, 15:11) in the final. XNUMX) broke the Swiss Kim Huber and Joelle Rohrer. The first place in the group made it possible to secure a place in the quarterfinals.

"We only had time to play today during the warm-up," K. Virbickaitė smiled. "We are players in the same position, but we really want to play and win."

I. Dumbauskaitė was happy that the tournament was taking place in Vilnius, and she quickly found a language with her new partner.

"Of course, there is a lack of play, but like in every sport, the players have some kind of mastery. We both know how to play in certain situations. We are happy that we managed to take the first place in the group and our goals continue to be the highest", said I. Dumbauskaitė.

The other Lithuanian couple in this group, Ieva Vasiliauskaitė and Danielė Kvedaraitė, beat the aforementioned French women 2-1 (21:19, 15:21, 15:10) in the match for the third place and earned a ticket to the round of XNUMX.

After the group stage, more Lithuanian teams made it to the round of 1 - Karolina Šantarytė and Diana Kacenrevyčienė, Lilija Frelik and Vlada Oganauskienė, and Vytenė Vitkauskaitė and Urtė Andriukaitytė, who currently have the highest ranking among the participants of the tournament. In the last match for the first place in group A, after a hard fight, they lost 2-18 (21:21, 19:14, 16:XNUMX) to the Latvians Marta Ozolina and Luiza Skrastina.

In the men's competition, with only 13 teams left, Artūras Vasiljevas and Robertas Juchnevičius, who have the highest ranking among Lithuanians, immediately entered the final of Group A. They will compete with Arnis Relinš and Ardis Bedritis of Latvia for the first place in the group on Saturday.

In the intriguing Lithuanian derby of group B, Linas Petravičius and Mata Navickas beat Tomas Staševičius and Andrzej Savostenokas 2-1 (17:21, 21:14, 15:6). Tomorrow, the winners will fight for a direct ticket to the quarter-finals, while the losers will enter the round of XNUMX.

In group C, Patrikas Stankevičius and Mantas Donėla won their first match and will fight for the first place on Saturday. Other Lithuanian couples did not taste victory on Friday.

On Saturday, the men's group stage will be completed in Vilnius and both the men's and women's playoffs will begin. The match will take place from 9 o'clock.