Tel Aviv, Israel, November 6, 2019 - The first-ever FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event in Israel began here Wednesday with eight beach volleyball pairs from six countries winning a pair of qualification tournament matches each to advance to Thursday's main draw pool play schedule.
Two men's and one women's team from Russia secured main draw berths Wednesday along with tandems for the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, the Ukraine and the United States. Thursday's Tel Aviv schedule features pool play matches for both genders followed by the elimination rounds Friday and the medal matches Saturday.
In the women's competition, 10th-seeded Americans Melissa Fuchs Powell and Elaney Knudsen joined three European teams in advancing to the money rounds. Playing in their first FIVB event together, Fuchs Powell and Knudsen defeated the veteran Scottish pair of second-seeded Lynne Beattie/Melissa Coutts 2-0 (21-14, 21-8) to gain their main draw berth.
Third-seeded Nina Grawender/Sigrid Simonsson of Sweden, fifth-seeded Ekaterina Katser/Elena Sviridova of Russia and eighth-seeded Anhelina Khmil/Tetiana Lazarenko of the Ukraine also advanced to the women's main draw. Both Ukrainian players are competing in a FIVB World Tour event for the first-time.
The Tel Aviv men's qualifier had the teams of top-seeded Martin Chiniewicz/Michal Koryck of Poland, fourth-seeded Vsevolod Bobrikov/Vladislav Mikhalev of Russia, seventh-seeded Patrik Manas/Jiri Sedlak of the Czech Republic and 11th-seeded Aleksandr Kramarenko/Serguey Prokopyev of Russia advancing.
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The Tel Aviv event is the third men's and second women's tournaments on the 2019-2020 FIVB World Tour calendar.