SA U19 Beach Volleyball pair eye progress

It hasn™t been an ideal start for the beach volleyball pair of Heiko Guther and Deloshen Valaitham at the U19 Championships in Turkey, but coach Kiruben Naiker says this is a learning curve for the two youngsters. 

Naiker, an ex-player himself, adds that the international tournament is a huge step for the duo who were pitted against the hosts, Italy and New Zealand. 

After losing to Turkey 21-9 in the first set and 21-10 in the second, Guther and Valaitham return to the sand today to face Italy.

The competition will conclude on Sunday, so a win in one of the two matches against the Italians or the Kiwis should see them progress to the next round - and Naiker is looking for an improved showing.

"This is a massive tournament, it's the highest stage in beach volleyball for the under-19 [age group]. It's their first time playing here so they didn't know what to expect at this event," explained Naicker.

"We played Turkey in the first game and naturally the boys were a bit nervous. The teams here are very tall and look like they've been playing together for a while, and they're very skilled.

"In our first game against Turkey, our boys were nervous and we made a few general mistakes, our passing was not up to standard and we did not create enough attacking situations.

"But I'm not too unhappy about their performance because it was their first time playing at an event like this, so we have to look forward to our next two games against Italy and New Zealand.

"We'll go back, look at our errors and how we can improve on the first performance and we're looking to win at least one of the two games if we want to go into the next round."

By Mazola Molefe