Stare Jablonki, Poland, July 3, 2013 – Vanuatu’s Elwin Miller and Henriette Iatika were rewarded for finishing second in their pool by being drawn against Kristyna Kolocova and Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic in the first elimination round at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Mazury 2013 on Thursday.
Like Miller and Iatika the Czechs won two and lost one in pool play, but they did enough in the three matches to hold off the challenge of Spain’s Liliana Fernandez Steiner and Elsa Baquerizo McMillan to top their pool.
Brazil’s Maria Antonelli and Agatha Bednarczuk have been handed a tough fixture, despite winning all three of their pool matches. They have been drawn with first seeds Chen Xue and Zhang Xi after the Chinese pair slipped to defeats in their second and third matches and only qualified as the best of the eight third place teams.
Their fellow Brazilians Talita Antunes and Taiana Lima meanwhile face tricky German pair Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst. The teams met most recently at the Rome Grand Slam, with Talita and Lima prevailing.
Germany’s number one side and fourth seeds Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler meanwhile have to overcome another north European team in the form of The Netherlands’ Sanne Keizer and Marleen van Iersel.
Holtwick and Semmler were another team to go through pool play unbeaten, but the Dutch pair sandwiched their sole victory between two losses.
The women’s competition continues on Thursday with the first elimination round in which 32 teams, the first and second ranked in each pool and the top eight third ranked teams take part. The semifinals and medal matches are scheduled for Saturday. The men’s competition is one day behind and concludes on Sunday.