Klagenfurt, Austria, July 26, 2016 - Fourteen teams from four nations vied for six spots for Wednesday’s qualifier here Tuesday as the men’s A1 Major Klagenfurt opened with eight country quota matches on the Beach Volleyball courts at the University of Klagenfurt.
With the capital of the federal state of Carinthia hosting a FIVB World Tour stop for a record 18th-time, the A1 Major Klagenfurt is the final stop prior to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games with the men’s qualifier Wednesday to be played to advance eight teams to the opening Main Draw rounds starting Thursday with pool play matches.
The A1 Major Klagenfurt is the fourth of five SWATCH Major Series events owned and operated by the Beach Major Company, the world's leading producer of Beach Volleyball events.
The “big” winner Tuesday was Vinicius Gomes and Marcio Guadie as the Brazilians advanced to Wednesday’s schedule by defeating compatriots Daniel Lazzari/Arthur Mariano 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) and Oscar Brandao/Thiago Santos Barbosa 2-1 (14-21, 21-14, 15-10) in 45 minutes.
Switzerland played three quota matches to determine two qualifying spots as Philip Gabathuler/Mirco Gerson and Nico Beeler/Marco Krattiger advanced. Adrian Heidrich and Luca Muller were the only Swiss team to play twice Tuesday as the pair defeated Quentin Metral/Michiel Zandbergen 2-1 (21-19, 17-21, 15-8) in 45 minutes before losing to Gabathuler and Gerson 2-1 (21-17, 16-21, 15-12) in 42 minutes. Beeler and Krattiger advanced with a 2-0 (21-13, 21-14) victory in 29 minutes over Jonas Kissling/Alexei Strasser.
American country quota winners were Ryan Doherty/John Mayer and Billy Allen/Theo Brunner. Doherty and Mayer posted a 2-0 (21-10, 21-14) win in 28 minutes over Jeremy Casebeer and Sean Rosenthal while Allen and Brunner scoring a 2-1 (21-19, 15-21, 15-9) win in 42 minutes over Mark Burik/Marty Lorenz.
Toms Smedins, the older brother of Latvian Olympic bronze medalists Janis, and Aleksandrs Solovejs advanced to the qualifier with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-16) win in 29 minutes over Abolins Armands/Tom Benjavs. Janis Smedins has already qualified for the A1 Major Klagenfurt Main Draw with his Rio Olympic partner Aleksandrs Samoilovs.