The two women’s teams that represented hosts France at last year’s Paris Olympics had a successful first day at this week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge event held in Alanya, Türkiye, overcoming the qualifier on Wednesday and securing a spot in the main draw.

Eight teams in each gender went undefeated in the first day of matches in Türkiye and will return to action at the Beach Sports Center facility on Thursday, when the main draw starts with 24 men’s and 24 women’s duos.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Alanya Challenge live on VBTV

Lézana Placette and Alexia Richard, who finished 17^th in the Paris Games last year, were strongly challenged by Americans Carly Kan and Devanne Sours in their only match in the qualifier, but delivered when it mattered and won 2-1 (25-23, 17-21, 15-10).

Aline Chamereau and Clémence Vieira, who ended up in 19^th place in the tournament played at the feet of the Eiffel Tower, were more in control on Wednesday and eliminated fellow Olympian Karla Borger and her German partner Hanna-Marie Schieder with a two-set (21-16, 21-19) victory.

Former German volleyball star Louisa Lippmann, who also competed in Paris last summer, finishing 19^th, will appear in the main draw in Alanya as well, after new partner Linda Bock and her came back to defeat New Zealand’s Shaunna Polley and Olivia MacDonald in the tie-breaker (17-21, 21-18, 15-7).

Japanese Miki Ishii, who competed in Paris and took ninth, didn’t make it through with new partner Saki Maruyama as the two fell to the Czech Pavelková twins Katerina and Anna in three sets (17-21, 21-15, 17-15).

The other four main draw spots on the women’s side went to USA’s Savvy Simo/Abby Van Winkle, Lithuania’s Daniele Kvedaraite/Jekaterina Kovalskaja, Ukraine’s Yeva Serdiuk/Daria Romaniuk and the Netherlands’ Lisa Luini/Desy Poiesz.

Beach Pro Tour Alanya Challenge – Match Schedule & Results

Americans lead Paris Olympians on the men’s side

On the men’s side, four of the five players who represented their countries last year in Paris entered in the qualifier advanced. Americans Miles Evans and Chase Budinger, who ranked ninth in the French capital, were among them after they won a pair of matches on Wednesday, beating Latvians Miloss Donavans and Benjavs Toms 2-0 (21-12, 21-10) in the first round and Lithuanians Artur Vasiljev and Robert Juchnevic in the tie-breaker (21-18, 14-21, 15-8) a few hours later.

Brazilian George Wanderley, who also finished ninth at Paris 2024, came out on top in two matches with new partner Saymon Barbosa in Alanya – they swept (21-16, 21-17) Austrians Mathias Seiser and Laurenc Grössig first, and then needed all three sets (13-21, 21-13, 15-8) to take down Swiss Marco Krattiger and Leo Dillier.

French Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, who took 19^th in front of his home fans last year, and partner Téo Rotar needed just one match to advance on Wednesday as the two made it through after beating Americans Tim Brewster and Ryan Ierna in straight sets (21-12, 21-19).

Italian Alex Ranghieri was the only Paris Olympian to not survive the men’s qualifier in Alanya as partner Manuel Alfieri and him were knocked out by French Elouan Chouikh-Barbez and Joadel Gardoque in the tie-breaker (12-21, 25-23, 15-12).

The French went on to win their second-round match as well, and made it to the main draw, alongside Czechia’s Tadeas Trousil/Matyas Dzavoronok, Switzerland’s Adrian Heidrich/Jonathan Jordan, USA’s Hagen Smith/Logan Webber and Norway’s Markus Mol/Adrian Mol.

The first day of the main draw in Alanya will have the pool play matches for both genders, with 32 matches taking place for each of men and women. The elimination rounds will begin on Friday and extend until Saturday, with the semifinals and medal matches ending the event on Sunday.

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