The drive from France to Leuven, Belgium, is only an hour and a half. Most of the travel for European federations competing on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is of little significance, with events in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland, and the Netherlands all within quick – and cheap – flights or drives.
But Leuven, home to this weekend’s one-star, is even more convenient for the French, which sent three men’s teams to compete. It made Belgium ripe for a French invasion.
Half of the teams competing in Sunday’s semifinals are French: Liam Patte and Timothee Platre, and Tom Altwies and Arnaud Loiseau. Just to get to the semifinals, Altwies and Loiseau had to beat another fellow French team in Jeremy Silvestre and Florian Gosselin in the quarterfinals.
With the way the bracket has shaken out, there will be yet another French vs. French battle in the semifinals, between young Patte and Platre and Altwies and Loiseau, guaranteeing a final appearance and at least one medal, the first the French federation will win this season.
What colour medal, of course, depends on the outcome of the ensuing gold and bronze medal matches.
The heavy favourites entering the tournament was the host’s No. 1 team, Tom van Walle and Dries Koekelkoren. True to form, the Belgians have yet to drop a set en route to their semifinal, where they will meet a Slovenian team, Crtomir Bosnjak and Daniekel Pokersnik, who have only lost one set thus far, in the first match of pool play.
Only one other team, aside from van Walle and Koekelkoren, has an unblemished record thus far, and that belongs to Americans Zana Muno and Crissy Jones. Beginning this tournament on the reserve list, Muno and Jones have swept their way through two qualifier matches, two pool play matches, and a quarterfinal with nary a hiccup. They will meet Belgians Sarah Cools and Lisa Van Den Vonder in the semifinals.
Cools and Van Den Vonder survived perhaps the match of the tournament, a 22-20, 18-21, 20-18 marathon in front of a packed crowd against Spanish cinderellas Sofia Gonzalez and Ana Vergara.
The winner of that semifinal will play the victor between another Belgian team, fourteenth-seeded Maud Catry and Els Vandesteene, and German qualifiers Chenoa Christ and Anna-Lena Grune.
All forecasts on Sunday are for yet another perfect day in Leuven – an ideal day for winning medals on the World Tour.
Quick links:
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour - Leuven
Olympic Games Tokyo 2020
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