Playing at home at this week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Warmia Mazury Challenge, Polish teams had a promising start to their main draw campaigns in the men’s tournament on Thursday.

The two pairs representing the home country at Anders Hotel Beach, Michal Bryl/Bartosz Łosiak and Piotr Kantor/Filip Lejawa, both prevailed in their first pool play matches in the event, securing their spots in the elimination rounds.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Warmia Mazury Challenge live on VBTV

The top-seeded team in the main draw, Olympians Bryl and Łosiak had an uneventful debut in Pool A, taking down Ukrainian qualifiers Ivan Datsiuk and Oleksii Bublyk in straight sets (21-14, 21-12).

The two, who became partners in 2022 and have won four Beach Pro Tour gold medals since, will play German Olympic medalists Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler, who topped Swiss Adrian Heidrich and Jonathan Jordan 2-0 (21-13, 21-18), in their second pool match on Friday. The winners will advance directly to the Round of 16, while the losers will need to go through the Round of 24.

Appearing in the main draw in Warmia Mazury thanks to a wildcard, two-time Olympian Kantor and 20-year-old Lejawa made a promising first step in the event, upsetting Australian Olympians Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert with a two-set (21-11, 21-17) victory in their first Pool C match.

The Polish, who are making just their sixth appearance as partners this week, will meet Canadians Sam Schachter and Jonathan Pickett, who defeated Chileans Vicente Droguett and Fernando Quintero 2-0 (21-11, 21-13), for a direct spot in the Round of 16 on Friday.

Pool B final will feature an all-Swedish duel after reigning Olympic champions David Åhman and Joanatan Hellvig topped Latvians Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Gustavs Auzinš in two sets (21-9, 21-17) and Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson prevailed over Brazilians Heitor Benitto and Vinicius Freitas in the tie-breaker (14-21, 21-19, 15-7) in the first round of matches.

The first teams to secure spots in the elimination rounds in Pool D were Brazilians Pedro Oliveira and Renato Lima, who downed compatriots Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes and Vitor Felipe in three sets (28-30, 21-13, 18-16), and Swiss Marco Krattiger and Leo Dillier, who handled French Rémi Bassereau and Calvin Aye in two (21-16, 21-16).

Pool E had only one match on Thursday, with Dutch Matthew Immers and Leon Luini topping Austrians Cristopher Dressler and Philipp Waller in straight sets (21-16, 21-14). Austrians Tim Berger and Timo Hammarberg claimed a forfeit victory in the other duel after opponents and compatriots Paul Pascariuc and Alexander Horst couldn’t play due to an injury.

Czechs and Israelis cause upsets in Pool F

Pool F started with a couple of upsets, having Czech qualifiers Jakub Sepka and Jiri Sedlak prevailing over sixth-seeded Germans Sven Winter and Lukas Pfretzschner in the tie-breaker (22-20, 12-21, 15-13) and Israeli qualifiers Eylon Elazar and Kevin Cuzmiciov downing another German team, the one of Paul Henning and Lui Wüst, in two sets (21-17, 25-23).

In Pool G, the teams that started ahead were the Chilean Grimalt cousins Marco and Esteban, who got a tight three-set (15-21, 21-17, 15-13) victory over Brazilians Saymon Barbosa and George Wanderley, and French Téo Rotar and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, who swept (21-15, 27-25) Australians Paul Burnett and Luke Ryan.

Finally, in Pool H, the first qualified teams are American Olympians Miles Evans and Chase Budinger, who defeated Germans Maximilian Just and Philipp Huster in straight sets (21-16, 21-18), and Ukrainians Sergiy Popov and Eduard Reznik, who secured a three-set (20-22, 21-14, 15-9) victory over Italians Alex Ranghieri and Manuel Alfieri.

Beach Pro Tour Warmia Mazury Challenge – Match Schedule & Results

Friday’s schedule in Poland will have the conclusion of pool play and the Round of 16. The Round of 24 and the quarterfinals will follow on Saturday, with the semifinals and medal matches ending the event on Sunday.

Quick links:
Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour
VBTV
Beach Volleyball World Facebook
Beach Volleyball World X
Beach Volleyball World Instagram
Beach Volleyball World YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter