Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallists Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan of Qatar, who started their Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Joao Pessoa Elite16 campaign from Wednesday’s qualifiers, continued their victorious journey through their three matches in main draw pool play to enter the knockout stages directly in the quarterfinals.
Elite16 - João Pessoa, BRA - 2023
Qualifiers Cherif & Ahmed top pool in Joao Pessoa
Knockout brackets at the Elite16 event in Brazil set
Published 05:38, 25 Nov 2023
· Watch the Joao Pessoa Elite16 main draw live on VBTV.
Cherif & Ahmed topped the final standings in the men’s Pool D and, along with other pool winners – Czechia’s Ondrej Perusic & David Schweiner, Sweden’s David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig and Brazil’s Andre Stein & George Wanderley – advanced straight to Saturday afternoon’s quarterfinal match-ups, awaiting their opponents to emerge from the four eighthfinal games earlier in the day.
On the women’s side, Brazil’s Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) & Ana Patricia Ramos, USA’s Taryn Kloth & Kristen Nuss, Germany’s Cinja Tillmann & Svenja Muller and China’s Xue Chen & Xia Xinyi won their pools and also expect to find out their quarterfinal opponents on Saturday.
Cherif & Ahmed, seeded 13th, started their main draw campaign with a 2-1 (21-13, 16-21, 15-13) victory over fifth-seeded Italians Paolo Nicolai & Samuele Cottafava, with Cherif leading the way with 25 points. The Qataris went on to produce a 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) shutout of USA’s Trevor Crabb & Theodore Brunner, and finally managed a 2-1 (19-21, 21-18, 15-12) comeback against the fourth-seeded home pairing of Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano to top Pool D undefeated. The other three teams in the pool finished with one win each with second-placed Nicolai & Cottafava and third-placed Evandro & Arthur progressing to the eighthfinals, while fourth-placed Crabb & Brunner had to start packing.
In their first competition after winning the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship in Tlaxcala, Perusic & Schweiner lived up to their top-seeded position in the Joao Pessoa main draw and their newly acquired status of world champions and cruised through Pool A on the wave of three straight-set victories: 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) over Brazil’s Pedro Solberg & Gustavo Carvalhaes (Guto) with seven kill blocks from Schweiner, 2-0 (21-13, 22-20) over Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot, and 2-0 (21-18-21-18) over another Brazilian pair, Adrielson Dos Santos & Arthur Da Silva. In the last match, Schweiner impressed with as many as 10 kill blocks. The Dutch won their other two games to finish pool runners-up, while 16th-seeded Adrielson & Arthur delivered a 2-1 (21-18, 19-21, 15-11) upset of eighth-seeded compatriots Pedro Solberg & Guto and knocked them out of contention.
Second-seeded Ahman & Hellvig also won all three of their matches in Pool B, but had to resort to tie-breaker victories in two of them. The Swedes started off with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) shutout of Austria’s Julian Horl & Alexander Horst, went on to claim a 2-1 (21-17, 23-25, 15-10) win over Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer & Robert Meeuwsen, and finished their pool campaign with a 2-1 (21-8, 19-21, 15-8) victory over Brazil’s Renato Lima & Vitor Felipe, leaving the home team winless and out of contention. Hellvig raised as many as nine kill blocks towards that win. The Dutch shut out the Austrians for the runner-up spot as both teams progressed to the eighthfinals.
11th-seeded George & Andre pleased the home crowd with three straight-set wins in Pool C: a 2-0 (21-19, 21-19) upset of third-seeded Michal Bryl & Bartosz Losiak of Poland, an emphatic 2-0 (21-12, 21-17) over Austria’s Robin Seidl & Moritz Pristauz, and another 2-0 (21-18, 21-14) shutout of sixth-seeded Germans Clemens Wickler & Nils Ehlers, who had to leave the tournament without a win. The Austrian qualifiers managed to take the second place after a 2-1 (23-21, 13-21, 15-13) victory over Bryl & Losiak, who entered the playoffs as a third-placed team.
The four fixtures of the first playoff round on Saturday will set Seidl & Pristauz against Evandro & Arthur, Horl & Horst against Cottafava & Nicolai, Brouwer & Meeuwsen against Arthur & Adrielson, and Bryl & Losiak against Boermans & De Groot.
In the women’s main draw, Pool C unfolded in the most interesting way as two teams finished with two wins each and two teams claimed one win each, having to resort to point ratios in both cases to determine the final standings. Third-seeded Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon of the Netherlands started with a 2-1 (12-21, 21-18, 16-14) comeback against Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk & Rebecca Cavalcanti with the help of seven serving aces from Schoon. Then the Dutch won another hard-fought three-setter, 2-1 (21-18, 18-21, 22-20) against sixth-seeded Muller & Tilmann, but in their last game they allowed a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) upset at the hands of Canadian qualifiers Heather Bansley & Sophie Bukovec, which left them in second place. The Germans took advantage of that result and after 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) against Bansley & Bukovec and 2-1 (21-14, 19-21, 15-12) against Agatha & Rebecca topped the pool standings and made their way to the quarterfinals. The Brazilians, who had defeated the Canadians in straight sets, survived in the tournament finishing third in the pool.
The world’s number one team, top-seeded Brazilians Duda & Ana Patricia, topped Pool A, defeating Latvia’s Anastasija Samoilova & Tina Graudina by 2-1 (21-19, 16-21, 15-9), Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallists Joana Mader & Anouk Verge-Depre of Switzerland by 2-1 (21-16, 16-21, 15-10), and compatriots Talita Antunes & Thamela Coradello by 2-0 (22-20, 21-19) along the way. Tina & Anastasija finished second with two wins. Talita & Thamela also moved forward as the third-placed team, while winless Mader & Verge-Depre were eliminated.
Second-seeded Nuss & Kloth did not drop a single set on the way to the quarterfinals, shutting out Brazil’s Taina Bigi & Victoria Lopes by 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) with eight kill blocks from Kloth, Germany’s Louisa Lippmann & Laura Ludwig by 2-0 (21-10, 21-14), and another home team, Andressa Cavalcanti & Vitoria Rodrigues, by 2-0 (21-17, 21-13) in Pool B. The two Brazilian pairs, Taina & Victoria with two wins and Andressa & Vitoria with one, advanced to the eighthfinals, leaving Ludwig & Lippmann winless and out of contention.
Fourth-seeded Xue & Xia also lived up to their status in the bracket and won all three of their matches in Pool D: 2-0 (21-13, 21-13) over Poland’s Jagoda Gruszczynska & Aleksandra Wachowicz, 2-0 (21-17, 21-18) over Brazil’s Barbara Seixas & Carol Solberg and 2-1 (21-14, 23-25, 22-20) over French qualifiers Lezana Placette & Alexia Richard. Seven aces by Xue were needed for the Chinese victory in that three-setter against the 13th-seeded team, who upset the other two opponents in the pool to finish second, while prominent Barbara & Carol shut out the Poles to claim the last ticket to the playoffs from that pool.
The women’s eighthfinal fixtures on Saturday morning will line up Placette & Richard against Talita & Thamela, Taina & Victoria against Carol & Barbara, Agatha & Rebecca against Tina & Anastasija, and Andressa & Vitoria against Stam & Schoon, with action starting at 09:00 local time (12:00 UTC).
