Antalya, Turkey, May 13, 2016 - While the women’s competition features three rounds of elimination bracket play here Friday in the US$150,000 Antalya Open, the men’s schedule features the final 16 pool play matches where teams from Australia and Greece look to finish group action undefeated.
With 11 men’s teams posting 2-0 match marks Thursday, it was the play of the 12th-seeded Isaac Kapa/Christopher McHugh of Australia and 25th-seeded qualifiers Georgios Kotsilianos/Nikos Zoupanis of Greece that caught the “eye” of Beach Volleyball followers at the FIVB World Tour being played on both BeachPark and Akdeniz University courts.
FROM SOCHI TO ANTALYA IMPROVEMENT
After finishing a disappointing 25th at last week’s Sochi Open in Russia, Kapa and McHugh rebounded Thursday in Pool E with wins over 21st-seeded qualifiers Philip Gabathuler/Mirco Gerson of Switzerland 2-1 (19-21, 21-15, 15-10) in 48 minutes and 28th-seeded qualifiers Aliaksandr Dziadkou/Aliaksandr Kavalenka of Belarus 2-1 (21-13, 17-21, 16-14) in 43 minutes.
The Aussies, who are three-time Asian Volleyball champions, conclude group action Friday against fifth-seeded Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak of Poland, who assumed the top spot on the 2015-2016 FIVB World Tour ranking from Italy’s Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri by winning their two matches Thursday. The Poles will be playing Kapa and McHugh for the first-time on the international circuit.
With Kantor and Losiak idle last week for the Sochi, Carambula and Ranghieri’s fourth-place finish in the Russian stop moved the Italians ahead of the Poles into the top spot on the 2015-2016 ranking for competition that started last October and concludes this October. With a guaranteed 180 points this week, Kantor and Losiak now have 3,340 points this season with the idle Carambula and Ranghieri at 3,260 points.
FOUR-STRAIGHT WINS
Kotsilianos and Zoupanis, who had to win two qualifying matches Wednesday over pairs from Austria and Latvia to earn a spot in the Antalya Open “money” rounds, upset the top two-seeded teams in Pool H to net the leadership entering their group match Friday against 24th-seeded qualifiers Morten Kvamsdal/Christian Sorum of Norway.
After posting a 2-1 (21-13, 17-21, 15-13) win in 51 minutes over eighth-seeded Murat Giginoglu/Volkan Gogtepe of Turkey, Kotsilianos and Zoupanis scored a 2-1 (20-22, 21-18, 15-11) victory in 52 minutes over Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen of Germany. The Greeks are facing each team in their Antalya pool for the first-time ever on the FIVB World Tour.
Greece's Georgios Kotsilianos (left) and Nikos Zoupani work together in their match against Germany Thursday.
With a win over the Norwegians, the Greeks will earn a “bye” for the first round of men’s elimination Saturday along with being guaranteed a ninth-place finish to match their placement two weeks ago at the Fortaleza Open in Brazil. After finishing the 2014 international season strong with fifth-, ninth- and fifth-place finishes in the last three events, Kotsilianos and Zoupanis never placed higher than 17th last season in seven FIVB World tour events.
OTHER UNDEFEATED PAIRS
Other teams posting 2-0 records Thursday to either lead or tie for the lead in their groups were top-seeded Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst of The Netherlands and 16th-seeded Martins Plavins/Haralds Regza of Latvia in Pool A, second-seeded Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen of The Netherlands in Pool B, 14th-seeded Michal Kadziola/Jakub Szalankiewicz of Poland in Pool C, fourth-seeded Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins of Latvia and the 13th-seeded Ingrosso twins (Matteo and Paolo) of Italy in Pool D, sixth-seeded Grzegorz/Fijalek Mariusz Prudel of Poland in Pool F and 10th-seeded Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter of Canada in Pool G.
The Antalya Open also features women’s competition where three rounds of elimination bracket will be played Friday. After the men play the final round of pool matches Friday, there will be 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.