The first four of Thursday’s eight eighthfinals of the men’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship in Adelaide were completed and the first major upset was already delivered. France’s Teo Rotar & Arnaud Gauthier-Rat knocked Qatar’s Cherif Younousse & Ahmed Tijan out of contention in a thrilling three-setter pushed deep into the overtime of the tie-breaker. The first quarterfinal match-up has also already taken shape. Defending world champions Ondrej Perusic & David Schweiner of Czechia will be challenged by Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists Nils Ehlers & Clemens Wickler of Germany, who knocked the current number one in the FIVB World Ranking, Norway’s Anders Mol & Christian Sorum, out of contention in a dramatic turnaround.

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18^th-seeded Rotar & Gauthier-Rat celebrated a stunning 2-1 (15-21, 21-16, 23-21) comeback win over the former number one team in the world and Tokyo 2020 Olympic bronze medalists Cherif & Ahmed, seeded 10^th in Adelaide and one of the main candidates for the podium spots. In the nail-biting tie-breaker, the Frenchmen denied as many as eight Qatari match points before converting the first one of their own to a big victory. Rotar raised a fantastic nine kill blocks and added two aces towards a 23-point total, while Gauthier-Rat emerged as the best scorer of the match with 27 points, including an ace. In one of Friday’s quarterfinals, Rotar & Gauthier-Rat will take on the winners of the eighthfinal between Germany’s Lukas Pfretzschner & Sven Winter and Norway’s Hendrik Mol & Mathias Berntsen, coming up later on Thursday on center court.

In another quarterfinal fixture, 14th-seeded Ehlers & Wickler will present a solid challenge to the defense of eighth-seeded Perusic & Schweiner’s world title. Top-seeded Mol & Sorum, who were the world champions before Perusic & Schweiner, with the title earned at Rome 2022, as well as Tokyo 2020 Olympic champions and Paris 2024 Olympic bronze medalists, were eliminated by Paris 2024 Olympic silver medalists Ehlers & Wickler, also in a thrilling comeback from a set down, 2-1 (16-21, 21-18, 16-14). Ehlers led the way with a match-high 27 points, including two blocks and an ace. Mol’s 22-point tally, including a remarkable nine kill blocks, proved insufficient to keep the Beachvolley Vikings in the tournament. In Thursday’s first eighthfinal, the Czech crown holders produced a 2-0 (21-16, 21-18) shutout of Portugal’s Joao Pedrosa & Hugo Campos with a match-high 18 points from Schweiner, including four kill blocks.

Wednesday’s pleasant surprise, Switzerland’s Marco Krattiger & Leo Dillier, were on the way to delivering another surprising result as they won the first set against the mighty Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano Lanci, but the fourth-seeded Brazilians also mounted a 2-1 (22-24, 21-12, 15-13) comeback and booked a spot in the quarterfinals against the winners of the upcoming clash between reigning Olympic champions David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden and France’s Remi Bassereau & Calvin Aye. Evandro fired an amazing nine aces towards the victory. He also raised four kill blocks to finish with a match-high 27 points.

Thursday’s men’s eighthfinal round continues with the remaining four duels for quarterfinal berths.

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships: schedule and results

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