It is red-hot around the red line in the men’s provisional Olympic ranking as the last qualifying event on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is underway in Ostrava. Right in the middle of it all is Latvia’s Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins who are staying cool and focused on the next match.
Before last week’s tournament in Sochi, Samoilovs and Smedins were just above the cut-off line. They did well, reaching the quarterfinals on the Russian sand, but Poland’s Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak did better, reaching the top of the podium and passing the Latvians in the race to Tokyo.
With the 4-star tournament in Ostrava left as the decision-maker, Samoilovs and Smedins found themselves just below the cut-off line, a mere 20 points too low. In fact, before Ostrava as many as seven pairs were in the race for three unclaimed spots and the Latvians were right in the middle of it, where the barometer points through the roof.
How are they handling the pressure?
“Janis and I are really experienced players. We’ve been in very tough situations before,” Aleksandrs Samoilovs told Volleyball World. “The key is to stay focused on our next game and not to think about points or the future, but focus on now.”
“Now what’s important is the next game only, because there are a lot of good teams and if you think about the points now, for sure you will lose and you can go home. Right now we are just preparing for the next match and let’s see how far we can go,” Janis Smedins agreed.
At the ages of 36 and 33, respectively, Samoilovs and Smedins are indeed very well-seasoned players. Aleksandrs has already played at three Olympics. Janis has competed at two editions of the Games winning bronze in 2012. But most certainly, it is not a ‘been there, done that’ attitude that they have adopted facing the risk of missing out on Tokyo.
“Of course, it’s pretty tough that it all comes down to the last tournament, but that’s the sport. We will fight through the end and we will do our best. That’s all we can do at this moment on the court,” Smedins said.
“Step by step, focusing on now, living in the moment... The Olympics is a goal for every athlete. It’s the most important tournament and happens once every… five years,” Samoilovs said laughingly, yet seriously.
The Ostrava main draw did not start so well for the Latvians as they lost their first set to Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Adrian Gavira. But then, they fought their way back to a 2-1 (17-21, 21-19, 15-11) victory.
Smedins against Herrera“In the first set they played really well and we made some mistakes in the side-out. The main difference was in the serving. They served aggressive and our serving was really bad,” Samoilovs commented. “The key was that in the second and the third sets we started to risk a little bit more, but made fewer mistakes. They had some problems with passing while we got a few balls over. Also, the side-out was much more stable for us.”
Samoilovs pointed to what he thinks the advantages of his team are in the race for an Olympic berth.
“We are tough players and very good athletically (laughs again). Actually, I’m joking” he said. “It’s hard to say what our strongest weapon is. The overall game maybe, because we both can play split blocks, we both can play defence... Also, our tactics to play second balls. Maybe we didn’t succeed a lot in this game, but it’s our key to play fast balls on two.”
Smedins, however, declined to say on how confident they are that they will make it to Tokyo.
“We cannot answer this question,” he said. “If you are too confident, there are a lot of good teams out there to put you in your place. That’s why, as we said, we’ll go step by step and do our best…”
Quick links:
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour - Ostrava
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
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