One for all: beach volleyball players Krasilnikov and Stoyanovsky made it to the semifinals of the Olympics

Until Wednesday, the men's Olympic beach volleyball tournament held hopes for a Russian final. Domestic duos played the group stage almost perfectly, scoring a total of five victories, and subsequently overcame the first round of the playoffs without any problems. In the quarterfinals, both Ilya Leshukova and Konstantin Semyonov, and Vyacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovsky were awaited by rivals whom they had already beaten.

Leshukov and Semyonov met with the Norwegian duo Anders Berntsen Mol - Christian Sandley Serum at the group stage of the Olympics. Then the Russians took both sets on the "thin" one (21:19), but in general they had a noticeable advantage during the match. The Scandinavians were leading only until the middle of the first game, after which they were forced to constantly catch up, and their lag sometimes reached six points. It was logical to expect that domestic beach players this time will be able to impose their own game on their counterparts and overcome the barrier of the quarterfinals.

But this time it turned out differently. Already in the opening, the Norwegians created a comfortable groundwork for themselves and did not lose it until the end of the starting game. The Russians, on the other hand, did little in both attack and defense. In the first set, they realized only 11 out of 21 hits, which did not look so impressive against the background of the accuracy of the opponents' attacks (16 out of 19). In addition, Leshukov and Semyonov could never pick up the ball from the sand after the attacks of their opponents.

The second set turned out to be equal, as evidenced by the implementation of the attacks. The problem is that the Norwegians had much more chances to score (32:26), the reason for which was the great game in the defense of Serum. In this party alone, he made nine rescues, which became one of the key factors in the success of the Scandinavians. In addition, domestic volleyball players looked unconvincing in the end. In two episodes, Semyonov showed himself not from the best side, who first shot out, but in the decisive rally, on the contrary, he was overcautious and played not sharply enough - 17:21, 19:21. The Russian duo suffered their first defeat at the Olympics and lost their chances for medals.

“In general, we can give ourselves a solid four for the tournament.

Will we avenge our defeat here in Paris?

Revenge is a dish served cold.

I'm not talking about the next Olympics, but about the future in general, let's draw conclusions.

If we work with the same attitude, everything will work out, and all the big victories are ahead, ”TASS quotes Semenova.

In turn, Krasilnikov and Stoyanovsky were to participate in a remake of the 2019 World Cup final.

Then the Russian duo in three games coped with the Germans Julius Tole and Clemens Wikler and won gold medals.

But this time everything turned out much easier, and two sets were enough to determine the winner.

Up to the middle of the first, there was a fierce struggle on the site, and none of the couples managed to get ahead.

This continued until the score 16:15, after which the Russians won five of the six draws.

Not without the help of the Germans.

Both missed the serve once, and even Tole shot out of the way from a vantage point.

Krasilnikov and Stoyanovsky did not forgive their counterparts for such extravagance.

The second game turned out to be more intense.

Closer to the end, domestic athletes again tried to break away, but this time the Germans did not allow them to do so.

One of the reasons for this was the bright play of Vikler, who managed both to score points himself and to prevent his opponents from doing it.

Clemens scored six points and four rescues, which in many ways helped the duo from Germany to hold out until the end.

The Russians were suddenly nervous.

At first, Oleg was unlucky on the block - he stopped the attack great, but the ball from his hand hit the antenna before hitting the court - and then they alternately lubricated the feeds.

But in the end, the class of the reigning world champions still affected.

Stoyanovsky scored the decisive points at his own expense, hitting the ball twice in the sand - 21:16, 21:19.

Thus, Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy advanced to the next round and remained the only Russians in the playoffs of the Olympics.

For reaching the final, they will compete with Qatari volleyball players Sheriff Yunusse and Ahmed Tizhan.

At the moment, the best achievement of the latter is the gold of the Asian Games, as well as reaching the 1/16 finals of the world championship.

“Tough match.

We knew our opponents well, we always played hard with them.

Now the tournament is over.

We know how to prepare, how to play with them.

We improve as the tournament progresses.

It seems to me that we perform better from game to game ", - quotes the words of Stoyanovsky" Sport-Express ".

Meanwhile, the quarterfinals of the women's Olympic volleyball tournament took place.

Sergio Buzato's wards took fourth place in their group, which is why in the quarterfinals they got to the winner of the neighboring sextet - Brazil.

Two-time Olympic champions won all five previous meetings and lost only three sets, which allowed them to be considered not only favorites of the upcoming match, but also the playoffs in general.

However, the Russian team did everything possible to present one of the loudest sensations of the competition. At the beginning of the first game, she managed to get ahead in the score and maintain the advantage until the end. One of the main characters was Natalia Goncharova and Arina Fedorovtseva, who scored seven and six points, respectively, and Irina Voronkova, who showed herself brightly in the ending.

But the leaders of the Russian national team were not enough for the entire match. The Brazilian women tightly closed Goncharova, allowing her to score only four points for the remaining three sets. Natalia has implemented only three of 19 attacks from the field, and also once succeeded on the block. Without her support, Fedorovtseva and Voronkova were very difficult to resist the formidable Latin Americans. The gamers scored a total of 20 and 18 points, respectively, and Irina Koroleva recorded 14 more points, but this was not enough for overall success.

Perhaps the key segment in the match was the middle of the second set, when the Russians allowed their rivals to win back from a score of 14: 8 in their favor. The Brazilians first turned on the block (as they did in the first set), then caught the courage on the reception and playfully took the second set. Having gained confidence, they systematically began to build on their success in the third game. Only once did they allow Busato's wards to come out ahead, but after that they confidently regained leadership and did not give it up until the end.

In the fourth game, the Russian national team was able to come to their senses and fought until the very end, but still turned out to be weaker. On this day, the Brazilian team was more balanced, as evidenced at least by the scatter of points. Five athletes at once overcame the mark of ten points scored. Domestic volleyball players lost and for the fourth time in a row could not go beyond the quarterfinals at the Olympics.

“The first moment - when (in the second set -

RT

) we were leading, we were knocked out of the reception a little, we could not play in the same arrangement, and they caught up with us. In the third and fourth games we fought, caught up somewhere and went ahead. We showed a good game, but of course I'm not happy with the result. There were problems with admission, somewhere it was possible to replace and insure someone, but this was not always the case, ”said the binder Evgenia Startseva.