Qatari participants achieve past World Tour successes this week

With FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour play resuming this week in Qatar, three participating men’s teams had memorable moments in their partnership during the March 7-13 time period by topping international podiums.

Poland’s Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak captured their first World Tour gold medal together by defeating Brazilians Evandro Goncalves and Pedro Solberg 2-0 (21-19, 23-21) in the 45-minute final on March 13, 2016, on iconic Copacabana Beach in Rio. Overall, Kantor and Losiak have topped five FIVB podiums with three youth world titles and two World Tour gold medals. 

After winning two qualifying matches to advance to the Rio Grand Slam main draw, Kantor and Losiak won seven more contests highlighted by a pool-play win over Rio Olympic pairs Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins of Latvia, a quarterfinal victory over Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena of the United States and a semifinal triumph over compatriots, Grzegorz Fijalek/Mariusz Prudel.

Two years later, on March 10, 2018, Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands won the Katara Beach Volleyball Cup in Doha. Rebounding from a pool play setback, the Dutch won their last five matches by posting final four victories over Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan of Qatar 2-0 (22-20, 21-18) in a 32-minute semifinal match and Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Igor Velichko, of Russia 2-1 (20-22, 21-14, 15-11) in the 46-minute gold medal finale.

Brouwer and Meeuwsen followed up the Doha gold medal effort with their fifth World Tour title the next week on home sand in Aalsmeer. The Dutch pair’s third 2018 gold medal was achieved two months later in the United States in Huntington Beach, California.

A year after the Dutch victory in Qatar, the Grimalt cousins (Esteban and Marco) of Chile topped the 2019 Volleyfest podium on Manly Beach in Sydney by defeating Enrico Rossi/Adrian Carambula of Italy 2-0 (21-18, 21-12) in the 35-minute gold medal match on March 10, 2019.

Michal Bryl and Grzegorz Fijalek, who withdrew from the 2021 Katara Beach Volleyball Cup last week, captured the 2020 Doha event on March 13. The Polish pair posted a 2-1 (16-21, 21-19, 15-11) gold medal win in 63 minutes over Josue Gaxiola/Jose Rubio of Mexico. It was the first and only World Tour title for Bryl and Fijalek.

Here are other gold medal winners during the March 7-13 time period.

March 8

·In 2020, Yurika Sakaguchi and Chiyo Suzuki of Japan won the Guam Beach Cup 2020. It was the second of two FIVB World Tour wins for the team.

March 10

·In 2019, Maxim Sivolap and Artem Yarzutkin of Russia won the Anchor Beach Volleyball Carnival in Kampong Speu, Cambodia. It was the first and only FIVB World Tour win for the team.

·In 2019, Nicole Laird and Becchara Palmer of Australia won the FIVB Volleyfest Three Star. It was the first and only FIVB World Tour win for the team.

March 13

·In 2016, April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings of the United States won the Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam. It was the seventh of 11 FIVB World Tour wins for the team.

Birthdays this week

Led by three-time Olympian Bjorn of Norway, seven players with Summer Games credentials have birthdays during the March 7-13 time period. Maaseide placed seventh and 19th with Jan Kvalheim at the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 competitions followed by a 19th with Iver Horrem at the Athens 2004 Olympics.

Maaseide, who turns 53 today, competed 17 seasons on the World Tour as he and Kvalheim captured seven gold medals together. Maaseide was also instrumental in bringing FIVB events to Norway where he and his fellow countrymen and women staged events in Stavanger (1999-2011) and Kristiansand (2007-2010)

Brazilian Olympic silver medal winners Barbara Seixas (34 on Tuesday) and Fabio Luiz Magalhaes (42 on Saturday) also celebrate birthdays this week. Barbara, who is competing this week in Qatar with Carolina Salgado, claimed the silver medal at the Rio 2016 Summer Games with Agatha Bednarczuk. Fabio Luiz and Marcio Araujo secured the second podium spot at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Lee Zahner turns 47 on Saturday. The Australian placed ninth at both the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Olympic Games with Julien Prosser. Zahner and Prosser won Australia’s first-ever men’s gold medal on the World Tour by defeating the Swiss Laciga brothers (Martin and Paul) for a 2001 title in Berlin on July 1.

Other Olympians with birthdays this week are Latvian Ruslans Sorokins (39 Thursday), German Jonathan Erdmann (33 Friday) and Swiss Nicole Schnyder-Benoit (48 Saturday).