Visakhapatnam, India, March 3, 2019 – Armin Dollinger and Simon Kulzer of Germany claimed their first ever FIVB World Tour gold medal on Sunday at the Vizag Open.
Dollinger and Kulzer dropped the first set 21-16 as their rivals Hsieh Ya-Jen and Wang Chin-Ju of Chinese Taipei dictated the tempo. The German pair retaliated with a 25-23 win in the second frame to extend the match. In the third set where the Europeans led 11-7, play was suddenly stopped as the Asian side retired, eventually handing Dollinger and Kulzer the match victory.
Prio to the gold medal win, Dollinger and Kulzer’s highest achievement as partners was a fourth place finish at Shepparton in February 2018.
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FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour - Visakhapatnam
Canadians Sergiy Grabovskyy and Cameron Wheelan’s first team-up on the World Tour still ended with a medal win after losing to the Chinese Taipei duo in the semifinals. They recovered from the setback and claimed bronze with a straight-set (21-15, 21-17) triumph against Japan’s Hitoshi Murakami and Takashi Tsuchiya.