Ostrava, Czech Republic, June 22, 2018 – Main draw action at the four-star Ostrava stop on the 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour resumes on Friday with the two rained off matches from Thursday evening scheduled to open the competition day. If no weather surprises emerge, the last 16 line-ups in both genders should become clear by the end of the day.
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Starting off at 09:00 local time, the last two pool winners’ matches in the men’s tournament will take place. Home favourites Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner take on Russia’s Konstantin Semenov and Ilya Leshukov on centre court for the first place in Pool H, while Poland’s Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak lock horns with Canada’s Grant O'Gorman and Ben Saxton on court 2 for the top of Pool E. The winners of these two games will join the six men’s and eight women’s pairs, who already secured their spots in the second elimination round by winning their pools on Thursday.
Next on the schedule are the losers’ matches in the eight women’s and eight men’s pools. Those who lose again should start packing, while everybody else should get ready for the first elimination round to be held on Friday afternoon.
The home crowd at centre court will get to cheer on Czech Republic’s Martina Bonnerova and Sarka Nakladalova in their survival match against USA’s Kerri Walsh Jennings and Nicole Branagh at 09:50, and then on Kristyna Kolocova and Michala Kvapilova facing Lithuania’s Anastasija Kravcenoka and Tina Graudina at 10:40.
Men’s action will return to centre court at 11:30, when Czechia’s David Lenc and Filip Habr meet Dutchmen Christiaan Varenhorst and Jasper Bouter to be followed by a clash between home pair Jan Dumek and Vaclav Bercik and Poland’s Mariusz Prudel and Jakub Szalankiewicz at 12:20 from the last batch of survival matches.
This will set the stage for the first single elimination round, where pool runners-up will be drawn against third-placed teams to fill in the remaining vacancies in Saturday’s second round.