The Olympic beach volleyball lineup is now complete for the Tokyo Games as Argentina, Australia, Mexico and Morocco secured the last four berths of the men’s tournament with their victories in their respective Continental Cup Finals on Sunday.
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Beach Volleyball
Argentina, Australia, Mexico and Morocco earn places in Tokyo
The last spots at the Olympics were taken by these countries
Published 11:36, 27 Jun 2021
Playing at home, in Colima, Mexico secured its spot in Tokyo in dramatic fashion as the country needed a golden set to beat Canada. The silver medallists of the 2016 FIVB Volleyball U21 World Championships Josue Gaxiola and Jose Rubio were instrumental in the country’s victory as they upset Rio 2016 Olympian Ben Saxton and his partner Grant O’Gorman 15-13 in the decider.
The teams that played the golden set were the ones that won their matches earlier in the day as Gaxiola and Rubio defeated Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter 2-0 (24-22, 21-13), while Saxton and O’Gorman triumphed over Rio 2016 Olympians Juan Virgen and Lombardo Ontiveros also in two sets (21-18, 21-13).
Mexico finished ninth in both of their two Olympic appearances – with Juan Ibarra and Joel Sotelo at Sydney 2000 and with Virgen and Ontiveros in Rio.
Morocco secure historic qualification
In Agadir, Morocco also pleased their home crowd with the biggest moment in the country’s beach volleyball history as Mohamed Abicha, Zouheir Elgraoui, Oussama El Azhari and Soufiane Gharouti guaranteed their nation’s presence in Tokyo with their triumph at the Continental Cup Finals.
The hosts had a strong last day in Agadir, taking two victories against Mozambique to claim the Olympic berth. FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship veterans Abicha, 41, and Elgraoui, 26, needed three sets (21-16, 18-21, 15-10) to oust Aldevino Nguvo and Jose Mondlane while the 22-year-old El Azhari and the 23-year-old Gharouti got the job done in two (24-22, 21-18) against Ainadino Martinho and Jorge Monjane.
The Moroccan delegation poses with the Daruma doll (Photo: CAVB)
Morocco will be the fourth different African nation to have a men’s team competing at the Olympics. The continent has previously been represented on the biggest stage of international sport by South Africa (Athens 2004 and London 2012), Angola (Beijing 2008) and Tunisia (Rio 2016).
Argentina prevail in Santiago
In Santiago, Chile, the Argentinean team of Nicolas Capogrosso, Julian Azaad, Leo Aveiro and Bautista Amieva placed their country in the Olympics for the first time since 2008 with their triumph in the South American Continental Cup. For the first time in history, Argentina will have men’s and women’s teams in both the beach volleyball and the volleyball tournaments at the Games.
The country’s top team of Capogrosso and Azaad, who had lost a match in the semifinals, came up big in the final against Venezuela, winning their two games on Sunday to end the series against Venezuela 3-1.
The reigning South American champions defeated Jesus Villafane and Jackson Henriquez 2-0 (22-20, 21-11) and repeated the two-set victory (21-15, 21-18) against Hernan Tovar and Rolando Hernandez to end the series. Aveiro and Amieva downed Villafane and Henriquez 2-0 (22-20, 21-11) and lost to Tovar and Hernandez also in two sets (17-21, 19-21).
Argentina were represented in the first four editions of the Olympics that had beach volleyball on the programme and finished ninth twice – with Martin Conde and Eduardo Martinez at Sydney 2000 and with Conde and Mariano Baracetti at Athens 2004.
Australia return to the Games
Australia are also set to return to the Games on the men’s side after missing the last two editions of the event. The teams of Damien Schumann/Christopher McHugh and Max Guehrer/Zachery Schubert won their matches against Indonesian duos in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, to give their country the victory at the Asian Continental Cup.
Guehrer and Schubert put the Aussies in the lead with a 2-0 (21-13, 21-11) win over Gilang Ramadan/Danangsyah Pribadi and the 2018 Commonwealth Games winners Schumann and McHugh confirmed the Australian qualification with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-12) victory of their own against Mohammad Ashfiya/Ade Candra Rachmawan.
“This has been a long Olympic qualification period and I’d like to thank everyone who played a part in this journey with us,” Schubert commented.
Australia were last represented by a men’s team at the Olympics at Beijing 2008, when Andrew Schacht and Joshua Slack finished ninth.
The Olympic berths awarded to these countries are assigned to their respective national federations, which will make a decision regarding the teams selected to play at the Tokyo Games.
