Elite16 - João Pessoa, BRA - 2025

George & Saymon upset Olympic champs in Joao Pessoa

Qualifiers Pedrosa & Campos beat yet another strong opponent to top their pool and jump straight to second knockout round

Published 05:44, 19 Sept 2025

Åhman/Hellvig (SWE) vs. George/Saymon (BRA) - Pool D #59885373

George in attack against the block of Hellvig

George Wanderley & Saymon Barbosa delighted the home crowd at the Joao Pessoa Elite on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour with an upset of the reigning Olympic champions. The Brazilian pair beat David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig in three sets in their pool winners match on Thursday and qualified directly to the second elimination round on Saturday. Meanwhile, Portuguese qualifiers Joao Pedrosa & Hugo Campos continued their dream start in Joao Pessoa with a win over another strong opponent, American Olympians Miles Evans & Chase Budinger, and also jumped straight into the round of 12.

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Seeded 16^th in the men’s main draw, George & Saymon coped with the resistance of fourth-seeded Ahman & Hellvig in the duel for the first place in Pool D. The Brazilian team came back from a set down to celebrate a 2-1 (16-21, 21-18, 15-13) victory. Barbosa put away six kill blocks and an ace towards a team-high 21 points. Saymon contributed another 20. Ahman was the best scorer of the match with 24. The Swedish jump-setters finished second in the pool and advanced to Friday’s first elimination round, the round of 18. So did France’s Remi Bassereau & Calvin Aye, who beat USA’s Chaim Schalk & James Shaw by a dramatic 2-1 (21-17, 20-22, 16-14) for the third place in the pool.

Åhman/Hellvig vs. George/Saymon - Match Highlights, 09/18/2025

After upsetting top-seeded Norwegians Anders Mol & Christian Sorum in their first pool match, Pedrosa & Campos, seeded 24^th in the 24-team main draw, went on to win Pool A with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-12) sweep of their next game against 12^th-seeded Americans Evans & Budinger. Pedrosa led the way with 19 points, including three aces and four kill blocks. The Portuguese qualifiers are now awaiting their opponents in the second knockout round. Mol & Sorum, the world’s number one team, bounced back with a 2-0 (21-10, 21-14) shutout of Switzerland’s Marco Krattiger & Leo Dillier to finish third in the pool and stay alive in the tournament.

Austria’s Timo Hammarberg & Tim Berger were another team that started from the qualifiers and went on to win their pool. In a nail-biting Pool F final against German qualifiers Lukas Pfretzschner & Sven Winter, the Austrians came back from a set down to produce a 2-1 (19-21, 21-17, 16-14) victory. Brazil’s Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano Lanci knocked out Latvia’s Martins Plavins & Kristians Fokerots in straight sets and stayed in the competition as the third-placed team in the pool.

Second-seeded Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot of the Netherlands topped Pool B after a narrow 2-0 (21-19, 23-21) win over Norway’s Mathias Berntsen & Hendrik Mol. France’s Teo Rotar & Arnaud Gauthier-Rat finished third in the pool after eliminating Brazilian qualifiers Adelmo Folha & Mateus Dultra.

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Third-seeded Swedish youngsters Jacob Holting Nilsson & Elmer Andersson survived a second tie-breaker in Pool C to emerge on top and book their spot among the last 12. On Thursday, they battled it out for a 2-1 (21-18, 24-26, 15-12) victory over Argentina’s Nicolas Capogrosso & Tomas Capogrosso. The third place in the pool went to Brazilian qualifiers Vinicius Freitas & Heitor Barbosa, who beat Australian Olympians Mark Nicolaidis & Izac Carracher in a hard-fought three-setter.

Poland’s Michal Bryl & Bartosz Losiak won the first set of the Pool E final against Netherlands’ Steven van de Velde & Alexander Brouwer, but during the second, a Bartosz Losiak injury forced them to withdraw from the match. The Dutchmen topped the pool and progressed to the round of 12. In the pool’s third-place game, Brazilian qualifiers Andre Stein & Renato Lima knocked out German qualifiers Jonas Sagstetter & Benedikt Sagstetter in straight sets.