Italians Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri were the first men’s team to secure a spot in the elimination rounds of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event held in Montréal, Canada, during the first day of the main draw, on Thursday.

With a pair of wins over teams from Brazil, the Olympians started ahead in Pool C and laid the groundwork for what could be a very positive week for them at the Notre Dame Island.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Montréal Elite16 matches live on VBTV

Partners for the second time in their careers for less than a year, the Rio 2016 Olympians are looking to return to the podium on the Beach Pro Tour for the first time since February, when they took bronze at the Doha Elite16.

Carambula, 35, and Ranghieri, 36, started the Montréal Elite16 strong, dominating the silver medalists of last year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship Vitor Felipe and Renato Lima in straight sets (21-17, 21-18). Later, they did the same against Andre Loyola and George Wanderley, handling the South Americans also in two sets (21-15, 21-12).

“It was a tough match against Andre and George,” Carambula remarked. “We had beat them twice earlier in the season, but they had won the last two and I’m glad that this time we came out really focused and played very well. It was great to start with two wins.”

Ranghieri, who also holds Canadian citizenship and has a Canadian mother, was excited with the team’s start in Montréal and expects the Italians to be able to maintain their good form against Brazilians Evandro Gonçalves and Arthur Lanci in their third and last pool play match on Friday.

“I love coming to Canada to play,” Ranghieri commented. “There will be a bunch of family members coming over on the weekend and I can’t wait to compete here in front of my Canadian friends. We had two good wins against Brazilian teams to start with and now have another one tomorrow to finish pool play strong.”

Beach Pro Tour Montréal Elite16 – Match Schedule and Results

Pool A was the only other one to have teams playing twice on Thursday and the day ended with two duos undefeated and guaranteed in the elimination rounds. Reigning Olympic and world champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway were one of them, topping France’s Youssef Krou and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat 2-0 (21-17, 21-17) and Chile’s Marco and Esteban Grimalt also in straight sets (23-21, 21-17).

American qualifiers Miles Evans and Chase Budinger also won their two matches, but needed all three sets to do it, starting their main draw campaign with a 2-1 (21-12, 23-25, 15-10) victory over the Chilean Olympians and ending the day with a three-set (15-21, 21-18, 15-10) win against the Europeans. Norwegians and Americans will battle for the first spot in the pool on Friday, while Chileans and French will play for the right of advancing in the tournament.

Pool B had only two matches on Thursday, with Dutch Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen topping Australians Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis in the tie-breaker (16-21, 21-19, 15-12) in one of them and Americans Miles Partain and Andy Benesh sweeping (21-16, 21-12) Dutch Matthew Immers and Yorick de Groot in the other one.

It was the same with Pool D, where Qatari Olympic medalists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan defeated Brazilians Pedro Solberg and Gustavo 'Guto' Carvalhaes in straight sets (30-28, 21-16) and Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler overcame Canadians Sam Schachter and Dan Dearing also in two sets (21-15, 22-20).

The Montréal Elite16 continues on Friday with the conclusion of pool play. The elimination rounds will be held on Saturday, with the Round of 12 and the quarterfinals, while the semifinals and medal matches take place on Sunday.

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