Two more eighthfinalists of the Tokyo 2020 men’s beach volleyball tournament emerged on Tuesday, as Evandro Goncalves and Bruno Schmidt and Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek snatched their second Pool E victories at Shiokaze Park in the Japanese capital.
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Beach Volleyball
Lucena & Dalhausser win clash of titans with Alison & Alvaro
Bryl & Fijalek, Evandro & Bruno Schmidt advance to knockout stage
published_tag 12:52, 27 lug 2021
A titanic clash between Brazil’s Alison Cerutti and Alvaro Filho and USA’s Nick Lucena and Phil Dalhausser marked the start of the second leg in Pool D. With Olympic champions present on each side of the net, the spectacular battle went to three sets, each of which was decided by just a two-point margin. After 66 minutes of nip-and-tuck beach volleyball in the midday Tokyo rain, the Americans could celebrate their first victory of the tournament, by 2-1 (24-22, 19-21, 15-13). Each of the two teams will enter the deciding third leg on a 1-1 win-loss record.
“I thought we did a pretty good job. They're a great team; a great block-and-defence team. They apply a lot of pressure on you. We were better than them by two points. I think it was only two points that made the difference in the whole match. That's a team that's going to contend for a medal and to get a win against them is special,” Nick Lucena said after the match.
In the last men’s match of the day at Shiokaze Park, Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands claimed a 2-0 (21-14, 21-14) win over Argentina’s Julian Amado Azaad and Nicolas Capogrosso to take the lead in the Pool D standings on a 2-0 record.
Michal Bryl on the block against Esteban Grimalt
In Pool E, two teams managed to register their second victories of the tournament and book their spots in the next stage. Brazil’s Evandro Goncalves and Bruno Schmidt produced a 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) shutout of Morocco’s Mohamed Abicha and Zouheir Elgraoui. Then, Poland’s Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek mastered a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) win over Chile’s Marco Grimalt and Esteban Grimalt.
“We came to the court very focused on our side and it worked out very well,” Fijalek told Volleyball World. “I am very happy that we could keep our level and built our shape step by step. We are not thinking about the next round yet. We still have one more game to play in this round against Brazil and we have to play it the same way we did today, with full power and focused on every single action and we will see what happens later.”
Clemens Wickler spikes over Piotr Kantor’s block
Germany’s Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler claimed their first victory in Pool F. They recovered from a four-point lag against Poland’s Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak to win the first set on a Wickler ace in the overtime. The fierce battle continued into the second set. After 15-15, the Germans rampaged elegantly on a 6-1 run to rejoice with a 2-1 (22-20, 21-16) win.
After that match, the Germans and the Poles are on a 1-1 win-loss record each. Ahead of them in the pool standings, on 2-0, are Italy’s Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo who delivered a 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) shutout of Japan’s Yusuke ‘Gottsu’ Ishijima and Katsuhiro Shiratori earlier on Tuesday.
