Back on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour after four months, the English Bello twins Javier and Joaquin had to work hard to have a successful return to international competition on Thursday, but they got the job done and secured a spot in the elimination rounds of this week’s Challenge event held in Baden.

Like the English, 15 other duos won their opening matches at the Thermalstrandbad Baden and have confirmed their progress in the tournament. On Friday, eight teams will advance directly to the Round of 16 as the pool winners, while another eight will do the same through the Round of 24, having to play an extra match.

• Watch Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge live on VBTV

Out of action at the international level since they finished 19^th at the Saquarema Elite event back in April, the 25-year-old Javier and Joaquin had Brazilians Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes and Vitor Felipe as their first Pool B opponents in Baden. The Europeans started behind, but came back and won 2-1 (24-26, 21-14, 22-20), confirming their presence in the elimination rounds of the Austrian event.

On Friday, they will play Ukrainians Sergiy Popov and Eduard Reznik, who topped the home team of Christoph Dressler and Philipp Waller also in three sets (22-24, 21-19, 15-10) in the other match of the pool. The winners will move directly to the Round of 16, with the losers having to play in the Round of 24.

In Pool A, the home team of Tim Berger and Timo Hammarberg, which triumphed in the tie-breaker (21-18, 16-21, 15-8) against Danish Mads Møllgaard and Nicolai Hovmann, and Brazilians Vinícius Freitas and Heitor Benito, who swept (21-19, 21-16) Italians Enrico Rossi and Marco Viscovich, got a head start.

Pool C has Swedish Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson, who defeated Austrians Lorenz Petutschnig and Alexander Horst in straight sets (21-11, 22-20), and Swiss Yves Haussener and Julian Friedli, who swept (21-17, 24-22) Spanish Adrián Gavira and Alejandro Huerta, as the first teams guaranteed in the elimination rounds.

Starting ahead in Pool D were Paris Olympic silver medalists Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler of Germany, who overcame French Elouan Chouikh-Barbez and Joadel Gardoque in the tie-breaker (21-23, 21-18, 15-11), and the Chilean Grimalt cousins Marco and Esteban, who downed Australians Thomas Hodges and Joshua Howat in two sets (21-18, 21-17).

Pool E started with a couple of upsets as Czech qualifiers Tadeas Trousil and Matyas Dzavoronok defeated Germans Paul Henning and Lui Wüst in two sets (21-18, 21-18), while Portuguese João Pedrosa and Hugo Campos got the better of Brazilians André Loyola and Renato Lima, triumphing 2-0 (22-20, 21-16).

The Pool F final will reunite Australian Olympians Izac Carracher and Mark Nicolaidis, who topped Austrians Julian Hörl and Moritz Pristauz in two sets (21-19, 21-18) and French Rémi Bassereau and Calvin Aye, who prevailed over American Olympians Miles Evans and Chase Budinger also in straight sets (21-19, 21-15).

Pool G had two teams that came from the qualifier taking the first victories after Germans Maximilian Just and Philipp Huster upset Dutch Matthew Immers and Ruben Penning in three sets (21-19, 16-21, 15-12) and Italians Alex Ranghieri and Manuel Alfieri produced a 2-0 (21-17, 22-20) win over Germans Sven Winter and Lukas Pfretzschner.

In Pool H, the top teams in the first day of the main draw in Baden were Israelis Eylon Elazar and Kevin Cuzmiciov, who upset Italians Samuele Cottafava and Gianluca Dal Corso with a two-set (21-19, 21-17) victory, and Swiss Adrian Heidrich and Jonathan Jordan, who took the Norwegian Mol brothers Markus and Adrian down also in two sets (21-13, 21-16).

Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge – Match Schedule and Results

The conclusion of pool play and the Round of 24 matches are scheduled for Friday in Baden. The tournament continues on Saturday for the men with the Round of 16 and the quarterfinals, while the semifinals and medal matches will happen on Sunday.

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