Litomerice, Czechia, May 30, 2020 – The highest-ranked Czech duo of Barbora Hermannova & Marketa Slukova are ready to get back to competitive action after being forced into a long break by the coronavirus pandemic. They will return to the sand this weekend in Litomerice, at the first of five stops on the newly introduced Tipsport Beach Series circuit, a part of the Czech national federation’s calendar.
The Czech pair, currently 13th in the FIVB World Ranking and in good position to grab tickets for the Tokyo Olympics next year, found themselves stuck in two different countries during the lockdown. While 29-year-old Hermannova was at home in Ostrava, doing physical training, her 31-year-old partner, two-time Olympian Slukova, could not reach the Czech Republic after a training camp in Los Angeles and practiced on a private court in the USA with her husband and coach Simon Nausch.
Since they teamed up in the summer of 2015, Hermannova & Slukova have won four golds, three silvers and one bronze medal on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. They played together at the Rio 2016 Olympics and finished 17th. At their most recent FIVB participation, the Tokyo Olympic Qualification tournament in Haiyang in September, the Czech team finished third, just short of the two available Olympic berths.
Despite the separation and the fact that most high-level events on the 2020 World Tour, including the Ostrava four-star in Czechia, have been cancelled or postponed, Hermannova & Slukova are optimistic about their future on the sand and pleased to still get an opportunity to perform in front of the home fans this year.
"I feel very good about it! We've been playing together for so long that the connection is there. So whether it's two days or two months it almost doesn't matter,” Marketa Slukova told cvf.cz. “At my age, I got to the stage where I just want to play. I really enjoy it."
Marketa Slukova dives for the ball during the 2018 Ostrava final
To fill the void, the Czech federation reacted quickly after the easing of anti-coronavirus restrictions in their country and organised the women’s Tipsport Beach Series, consisting of five FIVB-homologated national tour events over five consecutive weekends – in Litomerice on May 30-31, in Prague on June 6-7, in Nymburk on June 13-14, in Chodov (near Karlovy Vary) on June 20-21, and again in Prague on June 27-28.
"We are very much looking forward to playing at home,” said Barbora Hermannova. “It will be great to play more than one tournament on home sand this year."
Barbora Hermannova in action on the way to 2018 Vienna five-star gold