Tokyo Olympians Michal Bryl and Bartosz Losiak had a solid first day as partners on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour as the Polish team won their first match together at the Tlaxcala Challenge event on Thursday.

After clashing for years alongside their previous teammates, the two joined forces ahead of the 2022 season following the retirement of Bryl’s former partner Grzegorz Fijalek at the end of last year and shared the same side of the court for the first time in Mexico.

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The 27-year-old Bryl and the 29-year-old Losiak had a dominant performance against another new team, Canadians Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing, securing a straight-set (21-13, 21-17) victory in their opening match in Pool C.

“It’s been a long time since we had last played beach volleyball and it feels great to be on the court again,” Losiak commented. “We’re a new team and it’s great to start the tournament winning, we’re really happy with the good result.”

On Friday, the Poles will play for the top spot in the pool against Italian Olympians Daniele Lupo and Alex Ranghieri, who needed all three sets (21-15, 18-21, 15-11) to overcome the up-and-coming Swedish duo of David Ahman and Jonathan Hellvig.

“We’ll try and prepare well for our next match and hopefully we can win it and finish first in the pool,” Bryl added.

Top-seeded Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands had a solid debut as well, defeating fellow Dutch players Matthew Immers and Mart van Werkhoven 2-0 (21-15, 21-10) and setting up a Pool A encounter with Brazilian qualifiers Vitor Felipe and Renato Lima, who downed Canadians Ben Saxton and Grant O’Gorman also in two sets (21-15, 21-13).

“We’re feeling good about our team,” Renato commented. “Vitor played a great match and helped me a lot. It’s always nice to start the main draw with a good performance and we’ll try and go for more in our next match.”

Pool B also had a Dutch team among its early winners after Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medallists Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen prevailed over compatriots Leon Luini and Ruben Penninga in three sets (16-21, 24-22, 15-12). They will now play the new Italian team of Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava, who defeated Americans Chaim Schalk and Theo Brunner 2-0 (24-22, 21-16) in their first match as partners.

Tlaxcala match schedule and results

Another all-European matchup will determine the winners of Pool D. It will reunite Latvian veterans Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins, who topped Chileans Noe Aravena and Vicente Droguett in two sets (21-17, 21-16), and Estonians Kusti Nolvak and Mart Tiisaar, who came out on top of a three-set (18-21, 21-15, 15-7) battle against Austrians Christoph Dressler and Alexander Huber.

Pool E is between two Brazilian duos and Friday’s pool final will oppose Rio 2016 Olympic champions Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt. Alison and Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes came from behind to defeat Mexicans Juan Virgen and Miguel Sarabia 2-1 (19-21, 21-18, 15-9) while Bruno and new partner Saymon Barbosa dominated Spanish veterans Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira to a straight-set (21-19, 21-19) triumph.

Fellow Brazilians Pedro Solberg and Arthur Lanci are also in position to win Pool F after they upset the top Mexican team of Jose Rubio and Josue Gaxiola in a three-set (20-22, 27-25, 15-9) match that silenced the centre court in Tlaxcala. Their next opponents will be Swiss pair Florian Breer and Marco Krattiger, who triumphed against Australians Chris McHugh and Paul Burnett also in three sets (21-18, 24-26, 15-12).

The men’s tournament continues at Plaza de la Constitucion on Friday with the conclusion of pool play and the first two phases of the elimination round. The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday and the medal matches are set to take place on Sunday.

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