Ten women’s teams went undefeated on the first day of the main draw of the 2024 FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championship, having also secured a spot in the elimination rounds with the two victories earned on Wednesday, in Shangluo, China.

The men’s tournament had just one match for each team, with pool play set to be completed on Thursday, when the elimination round brackets will be set for both genders in China.

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Among the ten teams with perfect records after the first day were Canadians Calinda Kok and Ofure Odigie, who defeated Belgium’s Annelore Bex/Inès Piret 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) and Colombia’s Juliana Franco/Maria Gaviria also 2-0 (21-17, 21-15) to get to first place in Pool C.

The two will face winless Malaysians Shamsulrizal Auni and Mohammad Qariesy on Thursday and, in case of a new victory, will advance directly to the Round of 16 as the pool winners.

“We just stayed focused throughout the game,” Odigie reflected. “When we had a big swing, that definitely gave us a lot of energy. And we were getting hyped up about those little points too, by celebrating each one of the points. I think I can always improve in every aspect, but just being happy with how I played in that game, and looking at the good stuff as well as the things that I can improve on, will help me in my next match.”

The other undefeated teams were Spain’s Marta Carro/Sofía Izuzquiza in Pool A, USA’s Sally Perez/Sarah Wood in Pool B, Brazil’s Julhia Furtado/Marcela Barbosa in Pool D, Germany’s Sophia Neuss/Anna-Chiara Reformat in Pool E, the Netherlands’ Trijnte Veerbeek/Floor Hogenhout and Thailand’s Varagkhana Sogalee/Somruedee Koedkaew in Pool F, France’s Saofé Duval/Romane Sobezalz in Pool G and Austria’s Lia Berger/Lilli Hohenauer and China’s Lei Yijing/Qi Siyu in Pool H.

FIVB Beach Volleyball U19 World Championship: Match Schedule and Results

Latvians start with a big win

On the men’s side, half of the 32 teams entered in the tournament got to celebrate wins at the start of the main draw. Among them were Latvian qualifiers Matīss Šalkovskis and Karlis Jaundžeikars, who upset fourth-seeded Swiss Mathis Kälin and Flynn Deecke, securing a hard-fought 2-1 (17-21, 21-10, 15-13) victory in Pool D.

“I thought we played really well in general, but we made some stupid mistakes that we need to change,” Šalkovskis reacted. “We just tried to play our best and to play faster than our opponents. There was a lot of pressure in the third set, but we were able to deal with it.”

Šalkovskis and Jaundžeikars will play two more matches on Thursday, facing Canada's Brandon Burnside/Mason Doering and Lebanon's Jad Abi Karam/Hadi El Chabib.

Thursday’s match schedule in Shangluo will feature 32 men’s and 16 women’s matches, completing pool play action. The Round of 24 and the Round of 16 will both be held on Friday, with the quarterfinals and semifinals following on Saturday and the medal matches concluding the event on Sunday.

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