Antalya, Turkey, May 12, 2016 - After eight weeks off from the FIVB World Tour, the Dutch tandems of Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen and Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst have returned to international Beach Volleyball competition here Thursday with each team winning twice in the US$150,000 Antalya Open.
The last time the two teams participated on the international circuit was mid-March in Brazil (Vitoria) where Brouwer and Meeuwsen captured the bronze medal match March 20 over a team from Italy with Nummerdor and Varenhorst being eliminated a day earlier by the same team to place fifth.
TOPPING OLYMPIC LIST
Both teams are the top-two ranked pairs on the qualifying list for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, excluding Brazilians, and used their time off from the FIVB World Tour to prepare for the final two big “tests” on the international circuit before the end of the 14-month period that will place 15 pairs in the Copacabana quadrennial to be played August 6-18.
Seeded first in the Antalya Open, Nummerdor and Varenhorst posted Pool A wins Thursday over 32nd-seeded Devrim Alibaba/Kemal Sah of Turkey 2-0 (21-14, 21-12) in 27 minutes and 32nd-seeded Alexander Huber/Robin Seidl of Austria 2-1 (21-13, 19-21, 15-13) in 49 minutes.
Nummerdor and Varenhorst will close group play Friday with a match against 16th-seeded Martins Plavins/Haralds Regza Latvia in the first-ever international meeting between the two teams. The winner of the match wins Pool A and earns a first-round “bye” when elimination bracket play starts later Friday.
CC WINS
The second-seeded Brouwer and Meeuwsen opened Pool B play with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) win in 29 minutes over 31st-seeded Filip Silic/Ivan Zeljkovic of Croatia before bettering 18th-seeded Grant O'Gorman/Sam Pedlow of Canada 2-1 (21-16, 14-21, 15-13) in 48 minutes. As the only unbeaten team in the group, Brouwer and Meeuwsen end Pool B play playing 15th-seeded Jefferson Santos Pereira/Cherif Younousse of Qatar for the first-time on the FIVB World Tour.
Dutchman Robert Meeuwsen (right) and Canada's Sam Pedlow
In between their last appearance internationally in Brazil, the Dutch pairs took 10 days off at home in The Netherlands before spending two weeks in the Canary Islands practicing and training against teams from Austria, Poland and Spain.
“It was an intense two weeks of training,” said the Nummerdor, who will celebrate his 40th birthday September 10. “We spend a lot of time in the sun hitting, jumping, digging, serving, lifting and so forth. We played a lot of matches against the other international teams and feel it was time well spent.”
Nummerdor said the “training sessions helped all of us prepare for those big events in Moscow and Hamburg that are the final two events remaining during the qualifying period for Rio. When we went to Brazil, we had practiced a lot, but we were not in the shape we are in now. I had some elbow problems for the Brazilian events, but I feel much better now.”
A two-time Beach Volleyball Olympian with fifth- and fourth-place finishes in Beijing 2008 and London 2012, respectively, with Richard Schuil, Nummerdor said the Antalya Open “is important in gaining focus for the rest of the season. The key is to win and play hard. Our match today against the Austrians was tough and that is what we are looking for. To play against teams that are competitive and will challenge us. After winning the first easily against the Austrians, they pushed us to the limit in the final two sets. It was tight and we made the plays at the end. That will help us down the road.”
WIFE EXPECTING
In addition to the training, Nummerdor and his wife (Manon Flier) are preparing for their first child with the due date July 10, four days after the SWATCH Major Series event in Gstaad, Switzerland. “After Hamburg, I don’t know about my playing schedule with events in Poland, Croatia and Switzerland,” said Nummerdor. “That is why those training sessions in the Canary Islands were important. I have to be prepared not only for competition, but to be a new father.”
After finishing fifth in the past two Olympics, Nummerdor is looking forward to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. “I want to win a medal so bad,” said Nummerdor. “After those near misses in Beijing and London with Richard, I really want to reach the final day in Rio and to win a medal. That would cap off a perfect year for me.”
The Antalya Open also features women’s competition where three rounds of elimination bracket play is scheduled for Friday. The men play the final round of pool matches Friday with three rounds of elimination Saturday. The women’s “final four” matches will be Saturday with the men’s semi-finals and medal contests Sunday. The winning teams in the Antalya Open will share the $11,000 first-place prizes.