Europeans secure five medals in 2023 Beach Pro Tour opener
News
European beach volleyball had a massive display of strength in the opening event of the 2023 Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour season, claiming five of the six medals that were in play in the Elite16 tournament held in Doha over the weekend.
With teams from five different nations making it to the podium in the Qatari capital, Europe won all three medals in the men’s tournament, repeating what had happened in the 2022 Beach Pro Tour Finals one week before, and secured gold and silver among the women.
It was only the fifth time on the Beach Pro Tour that teams from the same continent claimed five of the six medals in play at an Elite16 event and on four of those occasions that happened with duos from Europe.
Reigning Olympic and world champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway were the winners among the men. The Beach Volley Vikings got revenge from Swedish David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig, who eliminated them in the semifinals of last year’s CEV EuroBeachVolley, and prevailed in the two-set (21-19, 21-19) gold medal match.
Anders Mol“We had a really difficult match in the semifinals earlier today and were really tired. We got some rest and were ready to fight again. I think we really put everything we had into this game because we had to play the best we could to beat the Swedish boys. It was a great final and they’re really pushing us to our best level every time.”
Norwegian Beach Volleyball Player
Italians Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula were the third European duo on the men’s podium after they defeated Polish Michal Bryl and Bartosz Losiak also in two sets (22-20, 22-20) in the bronze medal match.
Dutch Olympians Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam won the women’s title in Doha after taking bronze in the 2022 Beach pro Four Finals last week. The two started behind, but displayed strength to turn the tables against Swiss Nina Brunner and Tanja Hüberli in a rematch of the 2021 CEV EuroBeachVolley gold medal match – the Dutch won 2-1 (20-22, 21-14, 15-11).
Katja Stam“This is the first tournament in the Olympic qualification period and that’s our dream goal, so it’s certainly a good start. I’m already looking forward to the rest of the season and our goal will be to keep the same level of play we showed here and make it even better. I think that’s what we did here in Doha, we kept growing during the tournament and I’m happy about it.”
Dutch Beach Volleyball Player
Reigning European champions Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia had the opportunity of securing an all-European podium in the women’s tournament too, but they couldn’t handle Australian Olympic medallists Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho, falling in the three-set (12-21, 21-15, 15-10) bronze medal match.
The seven European teams that made it to the semifinals in Doha also added important points to their Olympic Rankings that will qualify 17 teams in each gender for the Paris 2024 Games – Mol/Sørum and Schoon/Stam earned 1,200 points, Åhman/Hellvig and Brunner/Hüberli secured 1,100, Ranghieri/Carambula claimed 1,000 and Tina/Anastasija and Bryl/Losiak added 900.
The next Beach Pro Tour events will take place in March, with Elite16 and Challenge tournaments set to take place in Mexico and Futures events scheduled for New Zealand and Australia.
#BeachVolleyball
