Beach volleyball player Raïsa Schoon from Werkendam has won her very first Pro Tour. Together with her teammate Katja Stam she won in two sets against Latvians Anastasija Kravcenoka and Tina Graudina.
Schoon and Stam have been making good progress lately. Only a Pro Tour, formerly the World Tour, had not been successful until Sunday. That changed during the Elite 16 in Mexico, a new tournament on the Beach Pro Tour.
The sixteen best teams may participate in the tournament. In the final, the Dutch beach volleyball players beat the Latvians 21-14 and 21-13. Thanks to the victory in Mexico, Schoon en Stam rose to third place in the world ranking.
After the final the beach volleyball players were of course very happy. “It’s great. I can’t really describe how happy I am,” said Stam afterwards.
The duo already took silver at another Pro Tour event last week. After that, they stayed in a flow and played the most games of all teams in one week. Schoon is therefore happy that she can rest for a while. “We will be back on the pitch in Itapema soon, but for now we just want to rest and enjoy the moment.”
Schoon (20) and Stam (23) are still a young duo, but they are getting better and better. At the Tokyo Olympics, the team was eliminated in the intermediate round. Last summer there was a surprising second place at the European Championship.
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