Warsaw, Poland, June 29, 2018 – The 4-star FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament in Warsaw has reached the point beyond which teams no longer have the option of losing and need to win to stay in contention.
Quick links - Beach volleyball:
On Friday morning the pool losers’ matches will take place, with only those who emerge with wins advancing to the single elimination stage. This afternoon, in the first round matches, they will then take on the pool runners-up to qualify for the second round. In the women’s competition, round 2 is also scheduled for Friday, while the men will fight for advancement to the quarterfinals on Saturday morning.
Action starts at 9.00 local time with Poland’s Jagoda Gruszczynska and Aleksandra Gromadowska opening the centre court for business with a game against Switzerland’s Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre.
“The next match is still ahead of us, so we don’t give up and we fight until the end!” Gromadowska said. “At the Monta Beach Volley Club I feel at home. I see many friends in the tribunes, so playing here is a real pleasure.”
The last leg of men’s pool play is set to start at 10.40, when another Polish team will fight for survival on centre court. Wild cards Kacper Kujawiak and Maciej Rudol face a tough challenge against Norway’s Anders Berntsen Mol and Christian Sandlie Sorum, after which there will be a titanic clash between last week’s winners at Ostrava, Spain’s Pablo Herrera Allepuz and Adrian Gavira Collado, and the gold medallists from The Hague four-star in January, Latvia’s Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs.
The remaining home teams, one women’s and three men’s pairs, finished second in their pools and are now waiting to find out who their opponents in the first knockout round will be.
“We came back at a good level after I was struggled with an injury. Before the injury we played really well. Then, at Ostrava, our game was unsteady and now, at Warsaw, our first match was average and the second one was good, but unfortunately we lost,” said Jakub Szalankiewicz, who makes up one of those Polish duos, together with Mariusz Prudel. “We have to improve match by match, play better and win. Hopefully we will have more luck in the next game.”