Aalsmeer, Netherlands, March 15, 2018 – Two Danish teams in Thursday’s qualifications at the Blooming Beach Aalsmeer one-star men’s indoor event on the 2018 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour were among the pairs advancing to the main draw starting on Friday.
Pairs from Germany and Indonesia also scored two qualification victories each to become part of the 16-team line-up to battle for honours and for the $5,000 of prize money on the Dutch sand, starting on Friday with modified pool play to be followed by single elimination.
In the first qualification round, Denmark’s Morten Overgaard and Daniel Jonassen, seeded 11th, eliminated Cypriots Antonis Liotatis and Antreas Savvidis with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) shutout. In the second, they delivered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-16) upset to third-seeded Italians Enrico Rossi and Jakob Windisch.
Ninth-seeded Kristoffer Abell and Daniel Thomsen, also from Denmark, started their day with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) win against Canada’s Simon Fecteau-Boutin and Hugo Rosso-Bonneau, before winning against the top seeds in the qualification bracket, Evgen Zhuravel and Iaroslav Gordieiev from Ukraine, by forfeit.
Germany’s Bennet Poniewaz and Simon Kulzer, in seed #13, managed a 2-0 (21-14, 21-18) win against fourth-seeded Seain Cook and Robin Miedzybrodzki from Scotland, and then celebrated a main draw spot after a 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) victory over Sweden’s Alexander Herrmann and Alexander Annerstedt.
Indonesia’s Koko Prasetyo Darkuncoro and Danangsyah Pribadi were the only ones who lived up to their status, as the second-seeded team, and advanced to the main draw with a hard-fought 2-1 (21-12, 17-21, 15-13) victory over Austria’s Moritz Fabian Kindl and Marian Klaffinger and a 2-0 (21-17, 21-17) straight-setter against Spain’s Raul Mesa and Christian Garcia.
Main draw action begins on Friday at 11:30 local time at The Beach indoor venue in Aalsmeer. The host country will be represented by as many as five pairs. Two duos each from Denmark, Germany, Indonesia and Poland will also be joined by teams from France, New Zealand and Russia to make up the 16-strong line-up.