Czech Beach volleyball Duo Stuns World Cup Favorites, advances to Quarterfinals
Adelaide, โAustralia – The Czech Republic’s beach volleyball team has delivered a majorโค upset at the World โCup, defeating highly-ranked opponents โand securing a spot in the quarterfinals. The duo, comprised of a player returning to top-level competition after a four-year hiatus dedicated to studies and her current partner, are now set to face defending gold medalists Molly Shaw โขand Kelly Cheng of the โฃUnited states on Thursday at 11:30 CET, live on Sporty TV.
This unexpected success story highlights the potential of pairing experienced players with emerging talent. The Czech player, three years older than her partner, previously enjoyed success in โขher youth but stepped away from the sport to focus on her education.Reunited with her โฃpartner last fall, afterโค aโ previous seasonโ with Markรฉta Svozilovรก and a recent โpairing with Maixnerovรก, she is rediscovering her form and contributingโ to a team exceeding expectations. “She certainly didn’t haveโข it easy. but Marลฅa is โฃanโ remarkable talent with great ball control, โwhich she hasn’t lost. She just needed to get used to the pace of training, deal with the pain after such a break,” her teammateโค commented. “We trained together last year and we โขgot on right โฃaway.โค I knew it โwas an investment โขfor the future, but I didn’t expect it to pay off so quickly.”
Despite their impressive run, the Czech team hasn’t yet played on the center court in Adelaide, currently scheduled for court number two in the round of 16. The player views this as added motivation. “I tookโ it as motivation that we have to โขwin to play in the center, so they wantโ to give me anotherโ motivation.It’s beautiful, I would like to play there, but we play very well atโ doubles and we’re doing well, so I’m not complaining,” she said.Looking ahead to the match against Shaw and Cheng, she expressed confidence:โ “If we start with the same commitment, I believe we can torment them. We have already shown ourselves that everything is absolutely possible.”