The men got on the court for the first day of matches of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge on Wednesday, when the qualifier was held in the Austrian city, and Italy was the only country to have two teams advancing to the main draw, each featuring a player with Olympic experience.

The tournament at the Thermalstrandbad Baden continues on Thursday, when the 32-team main draw starts with the first 16 pool play matches.

• Watch Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge live on VBTV

A member of the Italian Olympic team at both the Rio 2016 and the Paris 2024 Games, Alex Ranghieri had a productive day with partner Manuel Alfieri in Baden as the two got a pair of sweeps to overcome the qualifier of a Beach Pro tour Challenge event for the third time in the season.

The 38-year-old blocker and his 27-year-old teammates topped Germans Johannes Kirsten and Nicola Kössler in two sets (21-13, 21-12) in their first match and continued in good form to beat English Issa Batrane and Frederick Bialokoz also 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) a few hours later and advance.

Samuele Cottafava, who represented Italy at the Paris 2024 Games, and partner Gianluca Dal Corso were under heavier pressure and had to play more sets to triumph in their two qualifier matches against Austrian teams, but also accomplished their goal.

The Italians dominated the home team of Michael Mario Klemen and Philipp Sponer to a two-set (21-17, 21-18) victory in the first round and then came back to beat their compatriots Laurenc Grössig and Mathias Seiser in the tie-breaker (21-15, 16-21, 15-13) in their second match of the day.

The two other players with Olympic experience to get on the court in the men’s qualifier in Baden, Robin Seidl and Alexander Huber, who represented Austria at the Rio 2016 Games, made it to the second round, but fell to French Elouan Chouikh-Barbez and Joadel Gardoque in two tight sets (27-25, 23-21) and were eliminated.

The five other teams that went undefeated in the qualifier and secured their spots in the main draw were Czechia’s Tadeas Trousil/Matyas Dzavoronok, Norway’s Markus Mol/Adrian Mol, Germany’s Maximilian Just/Philipp Huster, Denmark’s Mads Møllgaard/Nicolai Hovmann and Brazil’s Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes/Vitor Felipe.

Beach Pro Tour Baden Challenge – Match Schedule and Results

Thursday’s schedule in Baden will have the first round of pool play for the men. On Friday, they will complete their pool play calendar and also play in the Round of 24. The Round of 16 and quarterfinals will follow on Saturday, with the semifinals and medal matches bringing the event to an end on Sunday.

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