Canada’s Rivest & Licht push through to Tlaxcala main draw with two qualification wins

Guillaume Rivest & Martin Licht of Canada were the only team that managed to score two qualification wins on Wednesday on the way to the men’s main draw at the Tlaxcala Challenge on the 2026 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour. Another seven teams from Canada, Latvia, Paraguay, Slovakia, USA and two from Australia also advanced to the main draw in Mexico, but after receiving byes in the first qualification round.

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Canada’s Guillaume Rivest & Martin Licht started off with a hard-fought 2-1 (21-17, 16-21, 15-13) victory over Germany’s Eric Stadie & Milan Sievers in the first qualification round with as many as eight kill blocks from Licht. They went on to achieve a 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) sweep of the all-Canadian clash with higher-seeded compatriots Luke de Greeff & Tynan Gannett and emerged as the lowest ranked team to push through to the main draw. As such, in their first main draw game in Pool A, Rivest & Licht will challenge FIVB World Championship silver medalists and Tlaxcala bracket leaders Jacob Holting Nilsson & Elmer Andersson of Sweden.

Another Canadian pair, Rouzbeh Rahnavard & Robert Kemp, battled their way back from a set down against Bryce Mayer & Tyler Penberthy of the Virgin Islands to celebrate a 2-1 (21-23, 21-15, 15-12) upset and progress to the main draw. Mayer & Penberthy, however, also got the opportunity to move on, claiming the additional opening in the last 32 as lucky losers.

Latvia’s Ardis Bedritis & Arturs Rinkevics pushed through to the main draw by coming back from a set down as well. They put together a 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-12) victory over USA’s Lev Priima & Diego Perez with an impressive 11 kill blocks from Bedritis.

The second qualification round offered two more three-setters. Cody Caldwell & Jacob La Bouliere won the all-American duel with Ryan Wilcox & Troy Field by 2-1 (24-22, 16-21, 15-12), while Australia’s Thomas Hodges & Ben Hood outlasted Brazil’s Gabriel Dos Reis & Johann Dohmann in a 2-1 (21-16, 15-21, 15-9) rollercoaster.

Another Australian duo, D'Artagnan Potts & Jack Pearse, hammered out a 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) shutout of USA’s Dexter Campbell & Skyler Kaufman.

Qualification bracket leaders Gonzalo Melgarejo & Giuliano Massare of Paraguay cruised to a 2-0 (21-12, 21-16) sweep of their game against Brazil’s Gabriel Zuliani & Joao Mares, with eight kill blocks from Giuliano, while another Brazilian pair, Mateus Rodrigues (Manaus) & Henrique Camboim, were knocked out by Slovakia’s Lubos Nemec & Adrian Petruf in a 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) straight-setter, with seven stuffs from Petruf.

Thursday’s men’s main draw action is set to get underway at 13:00 local time (19:00 UTC).

Beach Pro Tour Tlaxcala Challenge: men’s main draw teams
Beach Pro Tour Tlaxcala Challenge: match schedule

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