Boermans and de Groot take bronze at the Rio Elite
Beach Pro Tour
Dutch Olympians Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot represented Europe at the podium of this week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite event held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which came to an end on Sunday.
Playing in the historic sand of the world-famous Copacabana Beach, which hosted the Rio 2016 Olympics, the Dutch overcame the 2024 European champions, Latvians Martins Plavins and Kristians Fokerots, in the three-set battle (17-21, 21-17, 15-11) that determined the bronze medalists of the event.
With that, the Paris 2024 Olympians earned their sixth medal in the 2025 Beach Pro Tour season. The two have been particularly successful in Brazil, having won gold in the Brasília Elite and bronze in Saquarema, João Pessoa and Rio de Janeiro. Their other two medals are bronzes in Gstaad and Hamburg.
Stefan Boermans“It was a difficult week for us physically. We played many matches since last week, in João Pessoa, and now here, but we pushed through it and got another bronze. That’s the resilience of our team. We keep pushing, we keep fighting until the end.”
Dutch Beach Volleyball Player
Qatari Olympic medalists Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan won gold in Rio, beating Cubans Jorge Alayo and Noslen Díaz in the final.
The women’s tournament had two Brazilian teams in the final, with Carol Salgado and Rebecca Cavalcanti taking gold and Thamela Coradello/Victoria Lopes getting silver, and Americans Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft completing the podium in third place.
The most successful European teams were Switzerland’s Anouk Vergé-Dépré/Zoé Vergé-Dépré and Italy’s Valentina Gottardi/Reka Orsi Toth, who both ranked fifth.
Next week, the Beach Pro Tour heads to Mexico, with the city of Veracruz hosting a Challenge tournament from Thursday to Sunday.