Tokyo, Japan, July 25, 2018 – France’s Romain Di Giantommaso and Jeremy Silvestre outlasted Italian counterparts Francesco Vanni and Daniele Di Stefano on Wednesday, in the only all-European men’s qualification round match at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Tokyo 3-star event.
After a tough start, Di Giantommaso and Silvestre fought hard to record a 2-1 (24-22, 17-21, 15-9) win to earn a spot in the men’s main draw tournament.
“We didn’t play good in this match, but it was still a great victory,” Silvestre said. “We just want to get through pool play, so we will try to take it step by step.”
“We were not familiar with our opponents because they are a new team,” Di Giantommaso added. “Our coach gave us a game plan and that’s what we followed and executed in this match.”
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The other contenders from Austria, Canada, China, Turkey and the United States all faced Japanese teams in their respective qualification round matches.
Austria’s Felix Friedl and Maximillian Trummer defeated Kensuke Shoji/Jumpei Ikeda 2-0 (21-12, 21-18), while Turkey’s Safa Urlu and Hasan Huseyin Mermer beat Masakatsu Onodera/Daisuke Shibata 2-0 (21-17, 21-18).
The United States’ Chase Budinger and Sean Rosenthal also qualified for the next round by beating Shinya Inoue/Yuta Nagai 2-0 (21-10, 21-19), while Canada’s Cameron Wheelan and Jake MacNeil routed Masato Kurasaka/Hitoshi Murakami 2-0 (21-15, 21-16).
Japan did not come empty handed as two of their teams got their qualification tickets to the main draw. Junki Hatabe/Takashi Tsuchiya and Yuya Ageba/Katsuhiro Shiratori both emerged victors in their respective three-setters against China’s Li Zhuoxin and Zhou Chaowei (22-20, 19-21, 15-11) and Canada’s Liam Kopp/William Hoey (25-23, 17-21, 15-6).