Elazar and Cuzmiciov cause historic upset in Düsseldorf
EuroBeachVolley
The 33rd edition of the CEV EuroBeachVolley started with a big upset and a historic result on the men’s side on Wednesday, when Israelis Eylon Elazar and Kevin Cuzmiciov took down Polish Olympians Michal Bryl and Bartosz Łosiak in the first round of pool play in Düsseldorf.
The first match of Pool G had a surprising result after the 24-year-old Elazar and the 21-year-old Cuzmiciov topped the Polish, who have five Olympic appearances among them, and triumphed 2-1 (23-21, 15-21, 15-12) at the Rochus Club.
The victory not only confirmed the Israelis in the tournament’s elimination rounds, but also represented the country’s first-ever triumph in the EuroBeachVolley. Elazar had represented Israel in the 2022 and 2023 editions of the event with former partner Netanel Ohana, but the two didn’t manage to win any matches.
The other Pool G match had Swedish Jacob Hölting Nilsson and Elmer Andersson prevailing over Germans Sven Winter and Lukas Pfretzschner in another three-setter (21-17, 17-21, 15-8).
2025 CEV EuroBeachVolley – Men
Another upset happened in Pool D, where Swiss Adrian Heidrich and Jonathan Jordan took Norwegians Hendrik Mol and Mathias Berntsen down in the tie-breaker (20-22, 21-15, 18-16). They will now play Dutch Matthew Immers and Ruben Penninga, who defeated Ukrainians Sergiy Popov and Eduard Reznik in straight sets (21-19, 21-19).
Among the favorites, defending champions Martins Plavins and Kristians Fokerots of Latvia had an uneventful debut, sweeping (21-17, 21-15) Czechs Jakub Sepka and Jiri Sedlak in Pool C. The other match had French Téo Rotar and Arnaud Gauthier-Rat dominating Germans Maximilian Just and Philipp Huster to a two-set (22-20, 25-23) victory.
Four-time EuroBeachVolley champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway defeated Latvians Ardis Bedritis and Arturs Rinkevics 2-0 (21-12, 21-19) in Pool A. The German Sagstetter brothers Jonas and Benedikt also started well, beating Portuguese Hugo Campos and João Pedrosa in straight sets (26-24, 21-18).
Reigning Olympic champions and two-time continental champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden had a solid two-set (21-16, 21-13) victory over Italian Olympians Samuele Cottafava and Alex Ranghieri in their Pool B debut and are now set to face Dutch Olympians Alexander Brouwer and Steven van de Velde, who swept (21-13, 21-16) French Rémi Bassereau and Calvin Aye.
The top-seeded team in Pool E, reigning world champions Ondřej Perušič and David Schweiner had no trouble sweeping (21-11, 21-14) German wildcards Momme Lorenz and Tilo Rietschel. Their next opponents will be Austrians Christoph Dressler and Philipp Waller, who needed all three sets (21-18, 14-21, 15-7) to overcome Swiss Marco Krattiger and Leo Dillier in their debut.
Paris Olympic silver medalists and fan favorites Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler dropped their first match in Pool F, going down to English Javier and Joaquin Bello in two sets (21-19, 21-19). The twins will now face Dutch Olympians Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, who swept (21-12, 21-10) Swiss Yves Haussener and Julian Friedli in their debut.
In Pool H, the first teams guaranteed in the elimination rounds are Germans Paul Henning and Lui Wüst, who defeated Spanish Adrián Gavira and Alejandro Huerta in the tie-breaker (22-20, 16-21, 21-19), and Austrians Tim Berger and Timo Hammarberg, who downed Italians Gianluca Dal Corso and Marco Viscovich in two sets (21-15, 21-10).
On Thursday, pool play will be completed, with eight undefeated duos advancing to the Round of 16 and another 16 making it to the Round of 24, which will be held on the same day. The Round of 16 will follow on Friday, the quarterfinals are scheduled for Saturday and the semifinals and medal matches will take place on Sunday.