In the first three-setter of the men’s beach volleyball tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Italy’s Adrian Carambula & Alex Ranghieri squeezed out a tight win over Netherlands’ Steven van de Velde & Matthew Immers, opening Sunday’s programme at the Eiffel Tower Stadium with bang.

In the first Pool B match, 14^th-seeded Carambula & Ranghieri celebrated a 2-1 (22-20, 19-21, 15-13) victory over 11^th-seeded Van de Velde & Immers, with each of the three sets decided by the narrowest of margins. It was mostly the unforced errors that tilted the balance the Italians’ way. Ranghieri and Immers shared the top scorer honours with 21 points each. The Italian impressed with five kill blocks on his tally, while Van de Velde topped that with six.

Meanwhile, Carambula added to the spectacle for the sell-out crowd on the stands with his specialty, the skyball serves, which looked even more fabulous with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

“I had spoken with my friends and my coaches. They told me to lose my mind on the court, pull the people on our side...” Carambula told the FIVB after the game. “I don’t know if we played our best volleyball, because we were a little bit tense, but we compensated with a lot of energy, a lot of focus, and we wanted the victory... It felt amazing on the court. You know, I played Tokyo, with no fans, and for me it felt like the practice kind of matches. This is what I started playing for, and the energy - I can’t describe it. I love playing at this court for that! I’ve been to the Olympics and I know it’s all about the reset, so we’ll enjoy it for a little bit, then put it aside, recover and start thinking about our next match against Norway.”

Carambula & Ranghieri’s next game is against reigning Olympic champions Anders Mol & Christian Sorum on Wednesday evening. The second-seeded Norwegians started the tournament with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) shutout of 23^rd-seeded Marco Grimalt & Esteban Grimalt of Chile. Sorum was the best scorer of that match with 19 points to his name.

Pool E action also started on Sunday. Reigning world champions Ondrej Perusic & David Schweiner of Czechia, seeded fifth in the Olympic bracket, mastered a 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) win over 20^th-seeded Samuel Schachter & Daniel Dearing of Canada. The North Americans stayed competitive on the court, mainly thanks to some great serving, but the abundant unforced errors prevented them from producing an upset. In the second pool match, eighth-seeded Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano of Brazil overcame the resistance of 17^th-seeded Julian Horl & Alexander Horst of Austria and claimed a close 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) victory, with Arthur on fire in attack with 18 kills.

The first-leg matches in another two pools were played on Saturday. After Cuba’s Noslen Diaz & Jorge Alayo delivered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) upset of USA’s Miles Partain & Andrew Benesh in the tournament opener, Brazil’s George Wanderley & Andre Stein, seeded fourth, did not allow any surprises in the other Pool D match and hammered out a 2-0 (21-18, 21-10) shutout of 21^st-seeded Moroccans Mohammed Abicha & Zouheir Elgraoui, with five kill blocks from Andre.

The world’s number one team, top-seeded David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden, lived up to the expectations and mastered a 2-0 (21-14, 21-19) win over 24^th-seeded Australians Mark Nicolaidis & Izac Carracher, with five kill blocks from Hellvig. In the second Pool A game, Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medallists Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan of Qatar, seeded 13^th, outplayed 12^th-seeded Samuele Cottafava & Paolo Nicolai of Italy to start the tournament with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) victory, to which Cherif contributed five kill blocks.

Olympic Games Paris 2024 Beach Volleyball: schedule and results

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