Kish Island, Iran, February 24, 2018 – Latvia’s Martins Plavins/Edgars Tocs are seeking their second straight gold medal together, while Poland’s Mariusz Prudel/Jakub Szalankiewicz are aiming for their first gold medal victory as partners after their respective straight-set wins in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour MICA Mall Kish Island 3-star semifinals at the Kish Marine Recreation Sports Complex on Saturday.
In the first semifinal match, Plavins/Tocs led both sets from start to finish and logged a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) win over Austria’s Julian Horl/Tobias Winter.
“We are happy that we are in the finals and beat an Austrian team,” Plavins said. “We played well in this tournament. It was our goal and we did it. We are here to earn some points and now we will fight for the last 60 points in the final.”
“We had a nervous start but we knew we could beat them," Tocs added. "We had a good game and we did not have a lot of mistakes. We had good attacks, good defence and good results, that’s why we are very glad.”
The Latvian pair is unbeaten in the tournament and is in the chase to establish a record as the first men’s team to win back-to-back gold medals in their first two FIVB World Tour events.
Quick links - FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour:
Kish Island - WebsiteKish Island - Schedule and ResultsKish Island - TeamsKish Island - Tournament NotesPrudel/Szalankiewicz secured the second semifinal spot with a close 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) win over Germany’s Alexander Walkenhorst/Sven Winter.
Prudel/Szalankiewicz are the sixth Polish men’s team to reach an FIVB World Tour final four. Poland previously won two men’s World Tour gold medals by Fijalek/Prudel at The Hague 2014 and Kantor/Losiak at Rio 2016.
The bronze medal match between Horl/Winter and Walkenhorst/Winter will be at 13:30 local time, followed by the gold medal match between Plavins/Tocs and Prudel Szalankiewicz at 14:30.