• Dutch beach volleyball has been allocated CHF 144,000 of Volleyball Empowerment coach support
• Boermans & De Groot produced huge upsets enroute to their first Beach Pro Tour gold
• Seixas & Solberg celebrated their first gold at Elite16 level
• The next Elite16 event will take place in Mexico in April
Dutch pair Stefan Boermans & Yorick de Groot, coached by Michiel van der Kuip on an FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach support grant for the Nederlandse Volleybalbond (Nevobo), triumphed at the first Elite16 event on the 2024 Beach Pro Tour last week in Doha, leaving the number two and number one teams in the world, Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig and Norway’s Anders Mol & Christan Sorum, behind with silver and bronze.
Brazil’s Barbara Seixas & Carol Solberg, Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson and USA’s Sara Hughes & Kelly Cheng, in that order, lined up on the women’s podium in the Qatari capital.
Nevobo’s beach volleyball programme has so far been allocated CHF 144,000 of coach support for their national teams through Volleyball Empowerment, half of which goes to assisting the country’s men’s pairs.
Yorick de Groot in defence
In Doha, 29-year-old blocker Boermans and his 23-year-old partner De Groot celebrated their first-ever Beach Pro Tour gold as a duo, adding it to the one silver and one bronze they picked up in 2023. They mastered an impressive run of six consecutive wins, which included two victories over reigning Olympic champions and FIVB World Ranking leaders Mol & Sorum, before the emphatic success in the final against Ahman & Hellvig, number two in the World Ranking, winners of December’s Beach Pro Tour 2023 Finals and reigning back-to-back European champions.
After beating the Norwegian standouts in three sets in their pool-stage encounter, they met again in the semifinals and this time Boermans & De Groot got the job done in straight sets, 2-0 (21-16, 22-20). In the gold medal match (pictured in the main photo), the Dutch were merciless against the 22-year-old Swedes, producing a convincing 2-0 (21-11, 21-10) upset.
Having missed a number of tournaments because of injuries, Boermans & De Groot are the Netherlands’ third highest placed men’s pair in the current provisional Olympic ranking on the way to Paris. As each country can qualify a maximum of two teams per gender to the Olympic Games, the Doha winners’ great shape and potential hints at a thrilling race for the two Dutch tickets coming up, in which Boermans & De Groot will aim at catching up with compatriots Alexander Brouwer & Robert Meeuwsen and Steven van de Velde & Matthew Immers, who also played in Doha, finishing ninth and fifth, respectively.
Boermans & De Groot celebrate after the Doha final
To reach the Doha final, top-seeded Ahman & Hellvig achieved five wins in a row and crowned that run with a 2-1 (19-21, 21-15, 15-13) comeback victory in their semifinal against Germany’s Clemens Wickler & Nils Ehlers. The Swedish duo have not missed a final in six consecutive major tournament appearances now and their medal count on the Beach Pro Tour has improved to six golds, three silvers and one bronze.
Mol & Sorum also managed to overcome the Germans in a 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) third-place match to secure their 16th Beach Pro Tour podium. Their collection boasts eight gold, four silver and four bronze medals.
Barbara & Carol rejoice after the women’s final in Doha
Seixas & Solberg also snatched the first Elite16 gold on their journey together. However, they had already piled up five gold medals at the Tour’s next highest level, the Challenge events, in addition to four silvers and a bronze on the Beach Pro Tour. The 36-year-old Brazilians started their Doha campaign with a loss, but bounced back with five wins in a row, crowned by a 2-1 (21-11, 17-21, 15-12) semifinal upset of reigning world champions Hughes & Cheng and a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) sweep of the final against Humana-Paredes & Wilkerson.
In the other semifinal, the Canadian duo managed a 2-1 (21-17, 20-22, 15-12) victory over Latvia’s Anastasija Samoilova & Tina Graudina to secure their fourth Beach Pro Tour podium. Humana-Paredes & Wilkerson now have two golds, a silver and a bronze on record.
In the third-place match, the Americans produced a 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) win over the Latvians to claim the pair’s first-ever bronze medal on the Beach Pro Tour. They also have five golds and a silver in their collection, in addition to the world title.
The Doha Elite16 podium with the men’s and the women’s medallists
28 teams per gender representing a total of 25 different countries took part in the Doha Elite16. The next event of the highest Beach Pro Tour category will be held in Tepic, Mexico from 17 to 21 April.
Doha Elite16 results and standings