Top seeds struggle to make World Tour Ios men's quarterfinals

Ios, Greece, June 15, 2019 - Russia's Maxim Sivolap and Artem Yarzutkin, top seeds of the 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 1-star event on the Cycladic island of Ios had to play an extra round Saturday and play a tie-break in the knockout round to make the quarterfinals of the men's tournament.

After finishing pool play on a 1-1 record, the Russian pair edged sixth-seeded Latvia's Kristaps Smits / Aleksandrs Solovejs 2-1 (21-10, 18-21, 15-13) in the Round of 12 to stay alive in the tournament.

Second-seeded Toms Smedins / Haralds Regza shut out Marcel Myslivecek / Martin Pihera 2-0 (21-16, 24-22) of the Czech Republic in the Round of 12 to go through.

The two Czech pairs Filip Habr / David Lenc and Jindrich Weiss / Donovan Dzavoronok, France's Florian Gosselin / Jeremy Silvestre and Austria's Felix Friedl / Maximilian Trummer had all advanced earlier with back-to-back wins in pool play.

Of those, Weiss / Dzavoronok and Gosselin/Silvestre had come through Friday's Qualification Tournament.

The only pair to represent the hosts in the men's competition are Wild Cards Stylianos Tzioumakas / Iason Kanellos, who beat Dimitrios Niopas / Thodoris Papadimitriou 1-2 (21-16, 13-21, 11-15) in the Round of 12 all-Greek clash.

Action on Mylopotas Beach on Ios island continues Sunday morning with the quarterfinals and semifinals and wraps up in the afternoon with the medals matches.

Quick links - Beach volleyball:
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour
FIVB.com - Beach volleyball
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