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21/04/2016

Schalk & Saxton keep a clean sheet at Fuzhou Open

 
Fuzhou, China, April 21, 2016 – Chaim Schalk and Ben Saxton from Canada, sweep three wins to top Pool B at the 2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Fuzhou Open. 
 
The Canadian team have not dropped a set in Fuzhou and the win against Turkey’s Murat Giginoglu and Volkan Gӧgtepe secured their third straight sets win 2-0 (21-13, 21-15) and entry into round two knockouts.

Schalk/Saxton beat Armin Dollinger and Lorenz Schümann from Germany and Venezuela’s Jesus Villafañe and Jackson Henriquez in their first two Pool B matches before meeting Giginoglu/Gӧgtepe. Under humid conditions the match was heating on court as Turkey voiced their opinion on a couple of judge calls. 

“There was a little bit of talk, in any sport it gets a little aggressive sometimes, tight calls and all that stuff but we managed it well so we were able to come out on top of the little dispute,” said Saxton.

“We played well and controlled the whole match so we’re happy about that and want to keep doing that tomorrow as well,” said Schalk.


Canada’s Ben Saxton

The Canadian pair has had mixed results in the 2016 season, their best result at the Xiamen Open the previous week where they finished just outside the final four.

“Anytime you can win your pool and not drop a set, I think it’s good for anyone,” said Schalk.

“We feel, it’s always nice to win the pool so we get the bye, going into tomorrow and have a good chance to keep going,” said Saxton.

“We’re feeling strong. It was a good pool play for us and we want to go deep into this tournament so it’s a good start,” said Schalk.

Also progressing from Pool B is Giginoglu/Gӧgtepe and Fañe/Henriquez.

Herrera/Gavira continue form in Fuzhou

Another team taking all three pool wins is Spain’s Pablo Herrera Allepuz and Adrián Gavira Collado. The Spanish pair enter Fuzhou straight off the back of victory at the Xiamen Open. In their final Pool E match, Herrera/Gavira faced Youssef Krou/Edouard Rowlandson from France.

Spain’s Pablo Herrera Allepuz meets France's Edouard Rowlandson at the net

Both teams had beaten Serbia’s Basta Stefan/Kolaric Lazar and Nico Beeler/Alexei Strasser from Switzerland, so their match would decide the pool winner. Herrera/Gavira took hold of the match and their evident confidence closed the match in 29 minutes, 2-0 (21-11, 21-14).

“In the pool phase we did quite well – we won three times. After a long week in Xiamen, it gave us a lot of confidence and let’s see tomorrow in the knockouts how we will do,” said Gavira.

“When the sun shines it’s really hot and the humidity is high which makes it difficult to recover between the rallies,” said Herrera.

“It’s totally different in Xiamen it was raining and cold and here it’s much warmer,” said Gavira.

“We want to give our maximum. We can do better or worse but we always want to give our absolute best,” said Gavira.

Three other teams earned all three wins within their pool, Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins from Latvia along with American teams Philip Dalhausser/Nicholas Lucena and John Hyden/Tri Bourne. The men’s single elimination phase at the Fuzhou Open begins on April 22.

The gold medal teams in each gender at the FIVB Fuzhou Open will each split $11,000, the silver $8,000, the bronze $6,000 and fourth place $4,500. The men’s medal matches will be held on Saturday and the women’s medal matches will be held on Sunday.

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