Paul Schroffenegger

Paul Schroffenegger
portrait
birthday	March 30, 1973
place of birth	Innsbruck, Austria
size	1.94 m
partner	1995–2006 Thomas Schroffenegger 2007–2010 Daniel Hupfer
successes
1997, 1998 and 1999 Austrian State Champion 2003 9th place FIVB Grad Slam in Klagenfurt 2009 3rd place Austrian State Championships 2009 9th place FIVB Open in Stare Jablonki
(Status: January 3, 2012)

Paul Schroffenegger (born March 30, 1973 in Innsbruck ) is a former Austrian beach volleyball player .

Career

Paul Schroffenegger began playing indoor volleyball in 1987 and started playing in the sand in 1993. In the same year, he completed his first national and international tournaments together with his brother Thomas Schroffenegger. At the first World Cup in 1997 in Los Angeles, the Schroffenegger / Schroffenegger duo took 33rd place.

In 1998 at the FIVB in Argentina they succeeded for the first time in qualifying for the main competition on the World Tour. Shortly thereafter, Paul suffered a herniated disc that forced him to take a long break. Nevertheless they reached place 25 at the FIVB Open in Klagenfurt in the same year.

In 1999 they beat the Brazilians Luizao / Dennys at the FIVB Satellite in Lausanne and placed 5th at the CEV Open in Roseto.

In 2000, the two Schroffis took part for the first time in Spain, where they achieved 25th place. In the same year they achieved a sensational victory against the Brazilian duo Roberto Lopes.

In 2003 they achieved their greatest mutual success with 9th place at the FIVB Grand Slam in Klagenfurt. Unfortunately, injuries in both brothers followed. Tom suffers - like his brother years before - a herniated disc and Paul an open dislocation of the little finger of his left hand. At the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, they finished 37th due to injury.

In 2006 Tom ended his career as a beach volleyball player. Together the Schroffis can look back on over 50 tournament victories, 3 national championship titles in a row (1997–1999), 3 European Championship and 4 World Cup participations

After Tom's career ended, Paul Schroffenegger played with his new partner Daniel Hupfer from 2007 to 2010. In 2008 the newly formed duo Hupfer / Schroffenegger reached place 25 at the FIVB Open in Marseille and Mallorca, place 17 in Sanya, China and place 13 at the two FIVB Open in Brazil and Bahrain.

One of their greatest joint successes was the 9th place at the FIVB Open in Stare Jablonki 2009 - after defeating the 2004 Olympic champion, Ricardo Santos and his partner Franco Neto. At the Austrian State Championships in Schladming they won bronze and at the end of the 2009 season they finished second in the Austrian rankings.

After an unsuccessful 2010 season, Paul Schroffenegger ended his career as a professional beach volleyball player after 18 years and more than 350 tournaments.

Web links

• Official website Schroffenegger / Hupfer
• Profile at FIVB (English)
• Profile in the Beach Volleyball Database (English)

Individual evidence