Boermans and De Groot shine in Beach Pro Tour season-opener
News
European beach volleyball started the 2024 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour on the right foot, having five of the eight teams that competed for medals and getting the first podium sweep of the season in the first major event of the year, the Elite16 tournament held in Doha, Qatar, this week.
Repeating what happened a number of times in the 2023 season, European teams took all three medals in the men’s tournament, with Dutch Stefan Boermans and Yorick De Groot standing on the highest step of the podium. Among the women, Latvians Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova were the best finishers, ranking fourth.
Boermans, 29, and De Groot, 23, won their second Beach Pro Tour event in great style in Doha as to make it to the top of the podium they needed to beat the teams positioned in first and second place in the FIVB World Rankings – they topped leaders Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway twice.
In the gold medal match, the Dutch defeated reigning European champions and the world number two team of Swedish David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig in a dominant way, securing a 2-1 (21-11, 21-10) victory.
Stefan Boermans“This tournament is a dream come true. This first place means so much. It means that we get a lot of points and cut the distance to our countrymen competitors, so it’s looking good for us now. We are not there yet, because we still need the 12 results obviously, but this helps so much. It’s a huge relief after all the hard work we’ve put in and the injuries we’ve had. It’s amazing to pull this off..”
Dutch Beach Volleyball Player
In the bronze medal match, which also featured two European teams, Mol and Sørum downed Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler in straight sets (21-18, 21-19) to earn their first medal in the season.
In the women’s event, Tina and Anastasija made a brilliant run in Doha, starting the tournament in Tuesday’s qualifier and winning six straight matches to advance all the way to the semifinals.
The Latvians then lost to second-placed Canadians Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson and to third-place Americans and reigning world champions Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes in the medal rounds to rank fourth.
The next Elite16 event of the season will be held in Tepic, Mexico, from April 17-21. Before that, three Challenge events will take place, the first of them in Recife, Brazil, from March 21-24.