For the first time on their beach volleyball journey, England’s Joaquin Bello & Javier Bello topped a Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour podium. And they did so at the highest level, the Elite16 tournament in Rio de Janeiro, starting their quest to the gold medals from the qualifiers. Previously, the English twins had three bronze medals on the Tour, two from Challenge events and one from a Futures tournament. In Rio, they produced a solid 7-1 win-loss record that brought them to the top.
Beach Pro Tour
Bellos complete their Cinderella story with first ever Beach Pro Tour gold
Capogrossos take Rio Elite16 silver, Plavins & Fokerots claim bronze
Published 10:09, 10 Nov 2024
Joaquin and Javier triumphant after the Rio final
- Watch Rio de Janeiro Elite16 replays on VBTV.
Another set of brothers earned the silver medal. For Argentina’s Nicolas Capogrosso & Tomas Capogrosso, it was the first Elite16 podium and the second runner-up finish on the Tour, after a Challenge-level silver back in 2022. The fifth-seeded team reached the Rio final undefeated in five matches played, but there they missed some match points and stopped just short of celebrating their first gold.
The bronze went to 39-year-old Martins Plavins and 19-year-old Kristians Fokerots of Latvia. The two started competing together in the summer of 2023. The Rio podium was their third on the Beach Pro Tour, but the first at the Elite16 level. Previously, Plavins & Fokerots had one gold and one bronze from Futures events. Earlier this year, they won the CEV Beach Volleyball European Championship.
The Bellos and the Capogrossos put together a memorable final, which lasted three spectacular sets of nail-biting drama and crowned an remarkable final four day, in which all four games were resolved in tie-breakers. Each set of the gold medal showdown was decided by the narrowest of margins and the first two were pushed deep into overtime. Finally, the 14th-seeded English duo celebrated a 2-1 (22-24, 30-28, 15-13) victory, completing a huge comeback from a set down and three opponent match points in the second. Javier Bello topped the scorers’ chart of the match with 33 points, all in attack. Joaquin’s 24-point tally included all seven of the team’s kill blocks, a couple of aces and the spike that closed the game in their favour. Tomas and Nicolas Capogrosso contributed 31 (all in attack) and 25 (three blocks) points, respectively, to the spectacle.
“I can tell you one thing: all four players were really tired in this match,” Javier told VBTV after the final. “Especially I was gone and I needed Joaquin today. And he came through! He is one of the best in the world. He is an amazing player.”
“At the beginning of the year we played a lot of Elite16s to try to qualify for the Olympics and we said we just needed one win and we would get there. Well, it took a while, but we finally got it today!” Joaquin added.
The Copacavana centre court during the men's final
A day after knocking the reigning Olympic champions from Paris 2024 David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden out of contention, seventh-seeded Plavins & Fokerots managed to defeat the previous Olympic champions from Tokyo 2020, second-seeded Anders Mol & Christian Sorum of Norway. In the bronze medal match, the Latvians achieved a 2-1 (21-18, 13-21, 15-11) victory to secure a spot on the podium. Fokerots owned the net and, in addition to 23 kills in attack, he was able to raise five kill blocks towards a solid match high of 28 points. Plavins added another 13, all in attack. Sorum led the Beachvolley Vikings’ offence with 23 successful spikes, while Mol scored three aces and two kill blocks to finish with 19 points.
What a ride for Plavins & Fokerots! 🔥
— Beach Volleyball World (@BeachVBWorld) November 10, 2024
At the #BeachProTourRio, the Latvian duo 🇱🇻 took down the two best teams in the world to reach the podium!
They eliminated Åhman/Hellvig 🇸🇪 in the quarterfinals and defeated Mol, A./Sorum, C. 🇳🇴 in the 🥉 medal match!
☀️ #BeachVolleyball pic.twitter.com/QynBqXDLNx
The two semifinals were played earlier on Sunday. First, Capogrosso & Capogrosso came back from a set down against Plavins & Fokerots to put together a 2-1 (19-21, 21-16, 15-10) victory. Nicolas hammered out a fantastic match high of 33 points, including two blocks and an ace, while Fokerots put away four aces and two kill blocks towards a 24-point tally.
Then, the Bellos shocked mighty Mol & Sorum, also mounting a comeback from a set down to celebrate a 2-1 (18-21, 21-18, 15-12) victory. Joaquin Bello also beat Mol at his specialty, the block, piling up as many as 10 stuffs, against six from the Norwegian standout. Joaquin added 21 kills in attack to top the charts with 31 points, while Mol also scored two aces to tally a 22-point total.
