Two of the five Japanese pairs participating in the women’s qualifiers at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Goa Challenge made it among the eight pairs who booked the last vacancies in the main draw. Another two actually fell to compatriots in all-Japanese first-round battles. Along with Ren Matsumoto & Non Matsumoto and Asami Shiba & Saki Maruyama, for both of whom this was the first time to succeed in Challenge-level qualifications, two Spanish pairs - Belen Carro & Angela Lobato and bracket leaders Liliana Fernаndez & Paula Soria – were joined by Norway’s Sunniva Helland-Hansen & Emilie Olimstad, USA’s Kimberly Hildreth & Teegan Van Gunst, France’s Clemence Vieira & Aline Chamereau and Czechia’s Miroslava Dunarova & Daniela Resova on the way to the women’s main draw after emerging successful from Thursday’s qualifications in India.
As many as three Austrian teams contributed to Europe’s success in the men’s qualifiers as pairs from the continent snatched all eight tickets to Friday’s main draw. In addition to Paul Pascariuc & Laurenz Leitner, Mathias Seiser & Laurenc Grossig and Robin Seidl & Moritz Pristauz, Marco Krattiger & Florian Breer and Adrian Heidrich & Leo Dillier, both of Switzerland, Poland’s Jedrzej Brozyniak & Piotr Janiak, France’s Samuel Cattet & Olivier Barthelemy and bracket leaders Lukas Pfretzschner & Sven Winter of Germany emerged with second qualification round victories on Thursday.
