Samoilova criticizes federation over lack of financial support for beach volleyball

Latvian beach volleyball player Anastasija Samoilova has spoken out publicly against the Latvian Volleyball Federation, saying beach volleyball receives no financial backing despite achieving some of the country's best international sporting results.

Samoilova points out that she and her partner are world champions and European Championship bronze medalists, yet the federation provides zero euros in funding to the women's beach volleyball national team. She says the same applies to the men's team and to the U22 and U20 age-group squads. According to her, the only support the federation provides is uniforms and roughly ten balls per year.

Resources directed toward indoor volleyball

Samoilova says the federation concentrates most of its attention and resources on indoor volleyball. While acknowledging the importance of the indoor game, she questions why beach volleyball, which delivers some of Latvia's strongest international results, does not receive greater investment. As an example, she notes that U22 teams currently use their Olympic committee funding to attend youth-level competitions, rather than to compete for European Championship qualification and Olympic ranking points — competitions she believes the federation itself should be funding.

Call to invest where potential exists

Samoilova stresses that she is speaking not only for herself but for the entire Latvian beach volleyball community, saying she sees great potential that is being held back by a lack of initiative and support from the federation. She says she is not asking for special treatment, but for initiative and financial backing for a sport that has already proven what it can achieve for Latvia.

Fellow world champion beach volleyball player Tīna Graudiņa commented on Samoilova's post, expressing full support for her statement.