Polish men and Russian women beach volleyball duos were crowned new U23 European champions on Sunday at Praia da Baia in Espinho, Portugal.

The Polish male duo of Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel defeated a much-favored Italian pair in two straight sets (21-9 and21-15) in the final.

The Poles said the gold medal has been their ultimate goal. Defending European champions Sebastian Fuchs and Thomas Kaczmarek, from Germany, only managed to clinch the bronze.

In the women's competition, the Russian team Maria Bratkova/EvgeniaUkolova defeated Marketa Kolocova and Krystina Slukova from the Czech Republic in two very close sets (22-20 and 21-19).

The Russian pair said they were happy to overcome a strong Czech team.

"We are competing both in the European Championships and World Tour and we were able to reach the 13th rank in Marseille. We do hope that this gold medal is the first of many successes to come," Bratkova said.

Polish women group of Katarzyna Urban and Joanna Wiatr beat a Spanish pair to win the bronze.

"We are playing in the World Tour as well, but we are still young. The other teams have much more experience and we are still learning," said Urban.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2008)