Doha, Qatar, November 14, 2019 - Qualifiers Jedrzej Brozyniak and Piotr Janiak of Poland added another victory to their list of successes at the Aspire Beach Volleyball Cup here Thursday to advance to the semifinals of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event with pairs from Oman, Russia and Sweden.
After winning two qualifying matches on Tuesday to gain a main draw berth, the 13th-seeded Brozyniak and Janiak improved their Aspire Beach Volleyball Cup record to 5-0 with a 2-1 (11-21, 21-14, 15-6) quarterfinal victory in 44 minutes over ninth-seeded qualifiers Masato Kurasaka/Kensuke Shoji of Japan.
Brozyniak and Janiak will meet eighth-seeded David Ahman/Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden in Friday's first semifinal while 10th-seeded Petr Bakhnar/Yury Bogatov of Russia challenge third-seeded Nouh Al-Jalbubi/Mazin Alhashmi of Oman in the other opening final four match.
While all four pairs are seeking their first World Tour podium placements, the 17-year-old Ahman and 18-year-old Hellvig have one FIVB gold medal to their credit by capturing the Buenos Aires Youth Olympics title in October 2018.
While the Polish, Russian and Swedish teams are competing in their first FIVB World Tour semifinals, Al-Jalbubi and Alhashmi have competed in two final fours with a pair of fourth-place finishes at Oman events in March 2018 at Muscat and August 2019 at Salalah.
Friday's winning team will share the $1,000 first-place prize. The Aspire Beach Volleyball Cup in the fourth men's event on the 2019-2020 FIVB World Tour schedule. Doha will also host an international event this March.