Only half of the 32 men’s teams that entered the main draw of this week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Alanya Challenge continue alive in the race for the title in Türkiye as the tournament entered the elimination rounds on Friday.

Duos from ten different countries are set to appear in the Round of 16 of the event held at the Beach Sports Center facility on Saturday morning, with the eight winners progressing for the quarterfinals later in the day. The semifinals and medal matches will be held on Sunday.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Alanya Challenge live on VBTV

France are guaranteed a spot in the quarterfinals as the two teams that represent the country in the Round of 16, Téo Rotar/Arnaud Gauthier-Rat and Rémi Bassereau/Calvin Aye, will face each other on Saturday at 11:00 local time (8:00 GMT).

Partners since the start of 2025, the 21-year-old Rotar and the 28-year-old Gauthier-Rat took a straight path to the Round of 16, advancing directly as the top team in Pool G. The French, who had topped Brazilians Adelmo Folha and Matheus Dultra in their first match in Alanya on Thursday, took first place in the pool after they downed Ukrainians Sergiy Popov and Eduard Reznik in straight sets (21-10, 21-13) on Friday.

Bassereau, who represented France at the Paris Olympics last year, and Aye, on the other hand, had to win twice on Friday to continue alive in the tournament. Facing the risk of early elimination after dropping their first pool match to Australian Olympians Mark Nicolaidis and Izac Carracher on Wednesday, they reacted and defeated another Australian team, the one of Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert, in three sets (18-21, 21-17, 15-13) to survive in Pool C.

In the Round of 24, the French were faced with Swiss Yves Haussener and Julian Friedli and produced a dominant performance to win in two sets (21-15, 21-12) and continue their journey in the Turkish event.

Germans also play each other

Germany will also have a domestic battle for a spot in the quarterfinals in Alanya with Sven Winter/Lukas Pfretzschner and Paul Henning/Lui Wüst clashing in the Round of 16 at 10:00 (7:00 GMT). Winter and Pfretzschner got there after they prevailed over Brazilians Renato Lima and Pedro Oliveira in two sets (21-17, 21-15) to come out on top of Pool F.

Henning and Wüst took the longer route, playing twice on Friday – they lost 2-0 (21-13, 21-16) to Americans Miles Evans and Chase Budinger in the Pool D final, but recovered to defeat Iranians Abbas Pourasgari and Alireza Aghajanighasab in straight sets (21-15, 21-16) in the Round of 16.

Germany could have two more teams in the quarterfinals in Alanya as Paris Olympic medalists Clemens Wickler and Nils Ehers will play Nicolaidis and Carracher in the Round of 16, while Maximilian Just and Philipp Huster will meet Pedro and Renato.

Beach Pro Tour Alanya Challenge – Match Schedule & Results

The four remaining Round of 16 duels in Türkiye will have Evans/Budinger vs. Canada’s Sam Schachter/Jonathan Picket, Brazil’s George Wanderley/Saymon Barbosa vs. Austria’s Christoph Dressler/Philipp Waller, Austria’s Tim Berger/Timo Hammarberg vs. Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich/Jonathan Jordan and Czechia’s Ondřej Perušič/David Schweiner vs. Popov/Reznik.

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