Tel Aviv, Israel, November 7, 2019 - Led by Russians Alexandra Moiseeva and Ekaterina Syrtseva, four women's teams captured pools here Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals in the inaugural Tel Aviv event on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
Competing in their 36th FIVB World Tour event together and seeking their second international gold medal in the 2019 calendar year, Moiseeva and Syrtseva posted wins over teams from the United States and Austria to advance to Friday quarterfinals along with two pairs from Denmark and one tandem from Japan.
After posting a 2-1 (21-12, 19-21, 15-9 ) win in 45 minutes over 15th-seeded qualifiers Melissa Fuchs Powell/Delaney Knudsen of the United States, the second-seeded Moiseeva and Syrtseva captured Pool B with a 2-0 (21-16, 21-15) victory in 32 minutes over 10th-seeded Franziska Friedl/Eva Pfeffer of Austria.
Earlier this year during the 2018-2019 FIVB World Tour season, Moiseeva and Syrtseva placed on international podiums in Korea (gold at Daegu in July) and Vietnam (silver on Tuan Chau Island in May).
Also claiming women's group titles Thursday were fifth-seeded Sofia Bisgaard/Cecilie Olsen (Pool D) and eighth-seeded Line Hansen/Okholm Hansen (Pool A) of Denmark, and third-seeded Reika Murakami/Kaho Sakaguchi of Japan. All three teams captured silver medals during the 2018-2019 FIVB World Tour season.
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Only two of the four men's pools were decided Thursday with second-seeded Daniel Thomsen/Martin Trans Hansen of Denmark (Pool B) and sixth-seeded Petr Bakhnar/Yury Bogatov of Russia (Pool C) gaining berths in Friday's quarterfinals. While the Danish pair is competing in their first-ever FIVB event together, Bakhnar and Bogatov are appearing together in a World Tour event for the eighth time.
Daniel Thomsen (center) and Martin Trans Hansen (right) of Denmark won a pair of matches Thursday to win Pool B
Men’s Pool A and B will be decided on Friday morning with the rest of the daily schedule featuring elimination bracket matches. The €10,000 Tel Aviv event concludes on Saturday with the men's and women's semifinal and medal matches as Israel is hosting an FIVB World Tour tournament for the first time in the circuit's 34-season history that started in February 1987 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.