The Finnish pair won two matches and suffered three losses in the games.
Aino Paloniemi,
Petri Sjöblom
Finnish couple Taru Lahti-Liukkonen / Niina Ahtiainen finished ninth in the beach volleyball European Championships in The Hague.
The Italians Valentina Gottardi and Marta Menegatti beat Lahti-Liukkonen and Ahtiainen in the quarterfinals by 21–12, 21–8. According to Ahtiainen, the duo can be satisfied with ninth instead.
– Of course we always wanted more and we strongly believed in victory. However, we had a really tough group here in the tournament and it could have gone any way, Ahtiainen said.
The Finnish pair won two matches and suffered three losses in the games. The last victory of the tournament came from the Spanish duo Tania Moreno and Daniela Alvarezwho finished fifth at the Paris Olympics.
– Italy has been an insurmountable obstacle for us. Ninth place is ok from the European Championships, but you can’t be satisfied, head coach Toni Vahela your sum a little tighter.
Finland’s number one beach volleyball couple, Ahtiainen and Lahti-Liukkonen, are facing something new in the fall, when coach Vahela leaves the pair.
– The future coach is not yet known, but a change in that regard is ahead. The matter has been known for some time, there are certainly good alternatives in the world, but now we need to discuss among the team who it could be, Ahtiainen said.