Danish teams cause Rubavu upsets

Two teams from Denmark caused upsets in the Round of 16 of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2-star event in Rubavu, Rwanda, as they eliminated duos seeded first and third in the men’s tournament on the shores of Lake Kivu.

Seeded tenth in the event, Jacob Brinck and Daniel Thomsen ended the hopes of the top-seeded home team of Patrick Kavalo and Olivier Ntagengwa, knocking the Rwanda duo out of the tournament with their 2-1 (21-16, 19-21, 15-10) victory. They will now face in the quarterfinals second-seeded Chaim Schalk and Theo Brunner of the United States, who advanced with a straight-set (21-18, 21-17) win over Sweden’s Martin Appelgren and Alexander Hermann.

Qualifiers Nicolai Hovmann, who won silver in Rubavu in 2019, and Kristoffer Abell secured a second Danish team in the quarterfinals when they stunned Austrians Alexander Huber, a Rio 2016 Olympian, and Christoph Dressler with a 2-1 (21-14, 22-24, 15-11) win. Their next opponents will be Russians Anton Kislytsyn and Daniil Kuvicha, who downed Slovenians Jan Pokersnik and Nejc Zemljak also in three sets (13-21, 21-17, 15-10).

Russia advanced a second team to the quarterfinals in Maksim Hudyakov and Aleksandr Kramarenko, who dominated the Czech Republic’s Jan Dumek and Tadeas Tezzele to a straight-set (21-14, 21-12) win. They will play another Czech team next as Vaclav Bercik and Thomas Semerad remain alive after their 2-1 (18-21, 25-23, 15-11) triumph over Americans Miles Evans and Billy Kolinske.

The fourth and final quarterfinal matchup in Rubavu will reunite Poland’s Milosz Kruk and Mikolaj Miszczuk, who eliminated compatriots Jedrzej Brozyniak and Piotr Janiak in three sets (21-19, 16-21, 15-13) and Americans Chase Budinger and Troy Field, who knocked out Austrians Mortiz Kindl and Mathias Seiser also in three sets (21-17, 16-21, 15-13).

Ukrainians top their pools

In the women’s tournament, the highlights of the second day of the main draw in Rubavu, which completed pool play, were the victories by two teams from Ukraine, which finished at the top of their groups.

The Makhno twins Inna and Iryna prevailed in Pool E as they upset Lithuanians Ieva Dumbauskaite and Gerda Grudzinskaite in straight sets (21-19, 21-19). Their Round of 16 opponents will be Rwanda’s Valentine Munezero and Charlotte Nzayisenga.

The Africans were the opponents of the other Ukrainian team, the one of Valentyna Davidova and Diana Lunina, in Pool F’s final. The Europeans prevailed in two sets (21-7, 21-13) and will now meet Polish pair Agata Ceynowa and Marta Lodej, who finished third in Pool C.

Three American teams won their pools with Traci Callahan/Emily Stockman topping Pool B, Emily Day and Sara Hughes dominating Pool C and Aurora Davis and Sarah Schermerhorn prevailing in Pool D. Top-seeded Chantal Laboureur and Sarah Schulz of Germany ended up on top of Pool A.

Quick links:
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour - Rubavu
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
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