It has already been reported that Graudiņa/Samoilova, who are seeded ninth in Paris, lost 0-2 (15:21, 14:21) to the Swiss Esme Bebner and Zoe Verger-Depreux (16th).
“It wasn’t the game we expected. They surprised me by serving all the time and I’m not used to that. From the outside, you could say I didn’t cope with the task, but I know I’m much better than I showed it in these 40 minutes. The other teams just need to hold back, because everything is still ahead of us,” Graudiņa said.
She pointed out that the opponents successfully missed her block, which, in turn, made it difficult for Samoilova to play on defense.
“It’s a part of beach volleyball that the block covers half of the court, and the other half is for the defender, so if you miss me, then theoretically I’ve done my job,” Graudiņa added.
In several episodes, the Swiss scored points by hitting straight down the court line. Graudiņa explained that the luck factor in such episodes is part of the sport.
“When we got on the field, we felt good, but in the end it wasn’t a good game. It’s the lottery we face every day. Maybe everything will really be alright in the next games,” said Graudiņa.
On the other hand, Samoilova revealed that after the episodes of the game, in which the opponents served by Graudiņa, she tried to support her teammate and help.
“It didn’t work for me and I was in a somewhat unusual situation, but our physiotherapist Elizabeth has a saying that sometimes mistakes happen. I think this was the mistake that happened and will not happen again in this tournament. Let’s draw conclusions, talk to the coach and prepare for the next game “Let’s go win every next match, because it’s not like in tennis that there’s only one match,” said Samoilova.
“They really played smart from the start and hit where we weren’t. They held the game well and we didn’t do what we needed to do,” she continued.
In the middle of the first set, the game was stopped for a while, as the referees tried to settle the result for a long time, the error occurred even before the technical break during the video replay requested by the Swiss.
“We went to the technical break and it was 8:13, but we were told it should have been 7:15. I don’t even know how to act in such a situation. Maybe we should ask our experienced beach volleyball players,” Samoilova said.
The Olympic Games will take place in the French capital until August 11, and not only in the French capital, but also in 16 other places, including the French overseas territory of French Polynesia. The Games program includes 32 sports and 329 sets of medals will be distributed.
Source: www.diena.lv
