Knokke-Heist, August 17, 2019 – Pavel Shustrov and Alexey Gusev will try to end the hopes of Anshel Ver Eecke and Tim Lemmens - Belgium’s last remaining team in the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Knokke-Heist 1-Star tournament – when they meet in the semifinals on Sunday.
On Sunday the Russian pair beat Japan’s Yusuke Ishijima and Katsuhiro Shiratori 2-0 (21-14, 21-16) in the quarterfinals to remain on course for their first World Tour medals, a month on from winning gold at the CEV European U22 Beach Volleyball Championships.
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The Belgium pair are also chasing their first World Tour medals. They defeated the Netherlands’ Yorick de Groot and Mees Blom 2-1 (21-15, 16-21, 19-17) to leave them one match away from a first podium finish.
The seaside resort close to the Dutch border is hosting a World Tour tournament for the first time and it is taking place at the Evenementenstrand event beach from August 15-18. The winning teams in Knokke-Heist will collect the €1,000 first-place prizes and claim 200 Tokyo 2020 Olympic points.
The second semifinal pitches Austria’s Maximilian Trummer and Mathias Seiser against France’s Jérémy Silvestre and Timothée Platre.
Trummer and Seiser beat the Czech Republic’s Marcel Myslivecek and Martin Pihera 2-1 (18-21, 21-19, 15-5), while Silvestre and Platre ended the hopes of Austria’s Simon Frühbauer and Michael Murauer with a 2-1 (21-18, 20-22, 15-13) victory.
