The women’s main draw line-up at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Rio de Janeiro is now complete. Brazil’s Thainara Feitosa & Elize Maia, Italy’s Claudia Scampoli & Giada Bianchi, Germany’s Sandra Ittlinger & Kim Van de Velde and Poland’s Aleksandra Wachowicz & Julia Radelczuk won two matches each in Wednesday’s qualifiers and took up the four vacancies among the top 16 of the tournament.
Beach Pro Tour
Thainara & Elize Maia win two tie-breakers to push through to Rio main draw
Scampoli & Bianchi, Ittlinger & Van de Velde and Wachowicz & Radelczuk also successful in Elite16 qualifiers in Brazil
Published 05:57, 07 Nov 2024
Qualification Round is over, and these teams are advancing to the Main Draw! 🔥🔥
— Beach Volleyball World (@BeachVBWorld) November 7, 2024
Wachowicz/Radelczuk 🇵🇱
Scampoli/Bianchi 🇮🇹
Thainara/Elize Maia 🇧🇷
Ittlinger/Van de Velde 🇩🇪
☀️ #BeachVolleyball #BeachProTourRio pic.twitter.com/JPdqQZaxyQ
- Watch the Rio de Janeiro Elite16 on VBTV.
Home pair Thainara & Elize Maia, seeded eighth in the qualifier bracket, had a tough day in the Rio sand. They played two three-setters to make their way to the main draw. First, they claimed a 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-10) win over Estonia’s Heleene Hollas & Liisa Remmelg, and then, they came back from a set down against the team they lost to in the same stage of the competition at their Elite16 debut in Joao Pessoa two weeks ago, top-seeded Kimberly Hildreth & Teegan Van Gunst of USA, to celebrate a 2-1 (16-21, 21-16, 15-13) victory.
Starting on Thursday, Thainara & Elize Maia will compete with fellow Brazilians Thamela Coradello & Victoria Lopes and Talita Antunes with Taiana Lima, as well as Argentina’s Ana Gallay & Brenda Churin in Pool A of the main draw.
Playing at the Elite16 level only for the second time as a team, Poland’s Wachowicz & Radelczuk are now set to make their main draw debut, starting against Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk & Rebecca Cavalcanti, Vitoria Rodrigues & Hegeile Almeida, also of Brazil, and Paraguay’s Giuliana Poletti & Michelle Valiente in Pool B.
On Wednesday, the seventh-seeded Poles mastered a 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) sweep of their opening match against Lithuania’s Ieva Dumbauskaite & Ieva Vasiliauskaite. In the second qualification round, they produced a 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) shutout of second-seeded Laura Ovelar & Fiorella Nunez Quintana of Paraguay.
Italy’s Scampoli & Bianchi, seeded fourth, made their way to Pool C of the Rio main draw with victories over USA’s Kelly Kool & Tiffany Svenssohn, 2-0 (21-17, 21-19), and Germany’s Karla Borger & Hanna-Marie Schieder, 2-1 (21-15, 19-21, 15-13).
In Pool C, the Italian pair will meet USA’s Terese Cannon & Megan Kraft, Dorina Klinger & Ronja Klinger of Austria and Barbara Seixas & Carol Solberg of Brazil.
Germany’s Ittlinger & Van de Velde were the highest seeded duo in the Rio qualifiers to push through the main draw, where they will continue in Pool D with games against Lithuania’s Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte, Italy’s Valentina Gottardi & Reka Orsi Toth and Brazil’s Andressa Cavalcanti & Taina Bigi.
Seeded third in the qualification bracket, the German pair started off with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-14) shutout of Norway’s Frida Berntsen & Emilie Olimstad and stamped their ticket to the main draw with a 2-0 (21-9, 21-17) sweep of the decider against USA’s Madelyne Anderson & Brook Bauer.
Thursday’s women’s main draw action is set to get underway at 11:00 local time (14:00 UTC).
