Antalya, Turkey, May 10, 2016 - To set the field for Wednesday’s Antalya Open men’s qualifier, three country quota matches were played here Tuesday on the BeachPark courts for pairs from Estonia, Germany and Latvia.
Quick linksFIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Antalya Open
Men - Qualification resultsWomen - Qualification resultsMen - Main draw resultsWomen - Main draw resultsThe 13th men’s event on the 2015-2016 FIVB World Tour, the US$150,000 Antalya Open also featured women’s qualifying matches Tuesday where eight teams advanced to Wednesday’s opening pool play matches on the BeachPark and Akdeniz University courts.
Men’s teams advancing from the country quota matches to the 32-team, 24-match qualifier Wednesday were Kusti Nolvak/Mart Tiisaar of Estonia, Armin Dollinger/Yannick Harms of Germany and Abolins Armands/Benjavs Toms of Latvia.
Nolvak and Tiisaar defeated Karl Jaani/Kristo Kollo Estonia 2-1 (17-21, 21-15, 17-15) in 51 minutes while Dollinger and Harms ousted compatriots Sebastian Fuchs/Stefan Windscheif 2-0 (21-15, 21-15) in 34 minutes and Armands and Toms eliminated Latvia rivals Ingars Ivanovs/Ruslans Sorokins 2-1 (18-21, 21-19, 15-12) in 48 minutes.
The FIVB World Tour stop is the second-time that the world’s best Beach Volleyball is returning to the BeachPark courts in an eight-month period as the inaugural Antalya Open was held here last October 20-25 with teams from the Czech Republic and Italy capturing the women’s and men’s gold medals, respectively.
The US$150,000 Antalya Open is the part of the qualifying process for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games to be played on iconic Copacabana August 6-18. This week’s event will be the 25th of 28 women’s events in the Rio qualifying process and the 27th of 30 men’s stops.
After Wednesday’s qualifier where eight pairs will earn spots in the “money” rounds, the men’s Main Draw pool play matches will be played Thursday and Friday followed by three elimination rounds Saturday. The semi-finals and medal contests will be played Sunday. The winning teams in the Antalya Open will share the $11,000 first-place prizes.
A new men’s champion will be crowned Sunday as only 2015 bronze medal Martins Plavins/Haralds Regza of Latvia are the only men’s podium-placing pair from last October’s event in the 2016 Antalya Open. In the 2015 gold medal match, Alex Ranghieri/Adrian Carambula of Italy defeated Juan Virgen/Lombardo Ontiveros of Mexico 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) in the 39-minute finale. Plavins and Regza scored a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) bronze medal win in 33 minutes over the Grimalt cousins (Esteban and Marco) of Chile.
Led by Murat Giginoglu and Volkan Gogtepe, host Turkey will have four women and four men’s tandems in the Antalya Open. Giginoglu and Gogtepe, who placed ninth in the inaugural BeachPark event, are the 12th-ranked men’s team on the FIVB World Tour.
Other Turkish men’s teams in the Antalya Open Main Draw are Devrim Alibaba/Kemal Sah and Hasan Mermer/Sefa Urlu. The host country qualifying men’s team will be Ali Nurettin/Safak Sezer. Representing Turkey in the women’s “money rounds” will be Merve Aktas/Esra Koksalan, Atasoy Burcu/Selin Yurtsever and Resmiye Cakmak/Yaren Sencel. Playing in the women’s qualifier Tuesday was Ebru Karayilan/Aleyna Vence.