BATRANE TAKES 5TH CLASSIC TITLE

The 42nd  year of the Weymouth Beach Classic took place this weekend on Weymouth Beach sponsored by ‘We Are Weymouth’ and Ultra Maritime and was another success with great volleyball being played watched by large crowds watching from the mobile grandstand and from the Esplanade. The event is the top event out of over 200 UKBT events across Britain each summer.

The womens title was taken by Aleksandra Wachowicz  and Violeta Slabakova from Poland who defeated the English pair of Alice Jagielska & Kirsty Star 23-21,21-19. Star and Jagielska came into the final as  number 1 seeds but the Polish wildcards were always going to be very tough opposition. The match was a tense exciting final where rarely more than a couple of points separated the pair . However, at the crucial moments the Polish pair’s extra experience and powerful serving gave them the edge over the young English pair and enabled them to take the title.

The Mens event was won by Issa Batrane and Freddy Bialokoz who won a dramatic three set thriller 17-21, 21-19 , 15 -7.  England Internationals and World Tour players Issa and Freddie came into the final as firm favourites but knew they wouldn’t have it all their own way against last years winner Harry Jones and his partner Dalton Bunde. The first set was dominated by Jones and Bunde as Batrane and Bialokoz struggled to cope with their powerful serve and lost the set 21-17. It looked like Batrane and Bialokoz had begun to sort out their service receive problem in the 2nd set as they took a 5-1 lead but Jones and Bunde came back again and the set went point for point until Bialokoz managed to get intwo massive blocks to give them the edge to take the set 21-19 to even up the match. The third set saw Batrane and Bialokoz  up their game and show why they are 45th in the World with strong blocking and excellent back court recoveries they dominated the set to take the set 15-7 to win the match.

This was Batrane’s 5th Classic title which equals the record. Asked whether he would be back next year to try and claim his 6th win he said ‘We play all over the World but we love coming back to play in Weymouth so I certainly hope so but it will depend on our World Tor schedule.

In total 58 teams took part in the competition from all over Great Britain and Europe and the feedback from the players was how much they enjoyed coming to Weymouth not only for the well organised event but also staying in such a welcoming town.

All round the event was great success from the Round Table Charity night on Thursday evening through to the finals. Mo  Kerai  UKBT General Manager said ‘ I love coming to Weymouth for this event because the support team from Weymouth Volleyball Club are so knowledgeable about  the sport  and what  they need to do to run a smooth event , it makes our lives so easy, as well  as that the beach is perfect for our sport and the crowds come out to support in such large numbers.’