Kaliningrad and Chelyabinsk teams claim top honours at annual Lokovolley youth tournament

The annual Lokovolley youth international tournament run by JSC Russian Railways and the Volleyball clubs Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK and Lokomotiv KALININGRAD REGION did run this time from January 17 to 22 in Kaliningrad.

Since its inception in 2010, more than 150,000 young Volleyball players have taken part in activities connected with Lokovolley. The national teams of countries as diverse as China, Mongolia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bulgaria, Serbia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland and Kazakhstan have featured in the final stage of the competition over the years. The latest event was the 12^th edition for boys and the third for young girls. The main aims are to popularise Volleyball as a sport that promotes a healthy lifestyle, the development of youth Volleyball and improving the skill level of young athletes who in the future can join the strongest teams of the Russian league and the national team.

Due to the epidemiological situation and the spread of COVID-19, the organisers decided to change the format of the competition already back in 2020, when the event did not feature any foreign teams and took place in one extended stage only. The tournament paid tribute to medical workers who have been working on the frontlines against the novel coronavirus since the outbreak of the pandemic. The tournament took place at the iconic Lokomotiv Arena in Novosibirsk – the home venue of the Lokomotiv men’s volleyball club.

The organisers decided to stick with the same format for the latest edition as well, this time held at the Yantarny Sports Palace in Kaliningrad. This is where the Lokomotiv women’s Volleyball club play all of their home matches, with actions run there to promote the FIVB 2022 Men’s Volleyball World Championship, which will be taking place in Russia from August 26 to September 11. The 24 strongest teams comprising of boys and girls born in 2005 and 2006 from across Russia took part in the Superfinals.

The final day of Lokovolley 2021 became a real Volleyball party. The organisers did their best to give the young athletes a real festival and that was a huge success! All the participants of the tournament were watching an amazing show before the Superfinals with the performance of acrobatic artists, plus musical and dance acts. Moreover, the cities hosting the FIVB 2022 Men’s Volleyball World Championship had an opportunity to present themselves again, with the players enjoying the company of the official mascot, the tiger Tigrosha.

The first to compete for the trophy were the girls representing Kaliningrad Region and Chelyabinsk Region. After a tough match, the Kaliningrad girls claimed the Lokovolley trophy for the second time in a row. In the boys’ tournament, for the first time in history, the final featured teams from Chelyabinsk and Kemerovo after record winners Novosibirsk lost in the semis to Chelyabinsk. The powerful and energetic team from Chelyabinsk showed an amazing performance in the Superfinal and won their first gold medals. The bronze medals went to Team Belgorod.

VIPs involved in the medal ceremony included the chair of the Lokomotiv Voluntary Sports Society Yuri Nagornykh, Deputy Minister of Sports of the Kaliningrad Region Evgeny Skachkov, and Head of the Kaliningrad Railway Sergey Sapegin. The General Director of VC Lokomotiv Novosibirsk and General Director of the Organising Committee of the FIVB 2022 Men’s Volleyball World Championship, Roman Stanislavov and General Director of VC Lokomotiv Kaliningrad Region, Alexander Kosyrkov, were among the attendees as well.

Marina Aslyamova (Kaliningrad Region) claimed the MVP title of the girls’ tournament, with other prizes going to Alexandra Zakharova (Kaliningrad Region) as best blocker, Amalia Gorbatyuk (Kaliningrad Region) for the best setter, Varvara Osychenko (Chelyabinsk Region) as best spiker, and Kira Kurylenko (Khakassia) securing the best libero honours.

The individual awards for the boys went to Timofey Shabalin (Chelyabinsk, best libero), Kirill Pihletsky (Kemerovo, best blocker), Nikita Makarenko (Kemerovo, best setter), Gleb Stefanovich (Belgorod, best spiker), and MVP Alexander Ilchenko (Chelyabinsk).

Yuri Nagornykh, the chair of the Lokomotiv Voluntary Sports Society, said, “I was lucky enough to be present here. This is a unique event, the largest youth Volleyball festival in Europe. The tournament showed us the skills of individual players and we could witness how fast they are growing. We see how young volleyball players are progressing. I am sure that future players of the Russian national team are among the participants of these final matches. The fact that we have such wonderful young people growing up is the key to future success not only of our national team but of international Volleyball as well. It is a shame that this year, due to the difficult epidemiological situation, Lokovolley had to take place without spectators, and only team members were in the stands but the broadcast of the final, the pre-match show and the award ceremony were excellent.”

Final classification – Boys

1. Chelyabinsk
2. Kemerovo
3. Belgorod
4. Novosibirsk
5. Nizhny Novgorod
6. Novokuibyshevsk
7. Kaliningrad
8. Khabarovsk
9. Republic of Udmurtia
10. Saint Petersburg
11. Republic of Bashkortostan
12. Krasnoyarsk Territory

Final classification – Girls

1. Kaliningrad Region
2. Chelyabinsk Region
3. Republic of Khakassia
4. Nizhny Novgorod
5. Saint Petersburg
6. Khabarovsk
7. Republic of Bashkortostan
8. Krasnodar Region
9. Krasnoyarsk
10. Novosibirsk
11. Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
12. Amur Region (Tynda)