Rio de Janeiro, August 5, 2016 – Adrian Carambula is remaining coy on whether he will use his unique skyball serve when he and Alex Ranghieri open the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games beach volleyball tournament against Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst at 10.00 (local time) on Saturday.
The Italian has perfected a lofted serve that drops onto opponents back court and causes them problems galore while his partner Ranghieri takes up position at the net in case they are able to defend it.
Carambula and Ranghieri will face the Austrian veterans and have the honour of playing the first match in front of 12,000 spectators at the Copacabana Beach Arena on Saturday, but the winds coming off the Atlantic mean he might have to keep the move in his locker for the meantime.
“I’m going in there with an open mind, it’s the first time I’m going to experience something like this,” Carambula said. “So open mind, ready to take whatever feeling comes to my brain and my body and just play with it.”
Doppler, 35, and Horst, 33, will play in their third Olympic Games having featured at Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
They won silver at the Porec Major Series tournament at the start of July to suggest that their form is improving and know Ranghieri and Carambula well from the FIVB Beach Volleyball.
Nonetheless they are surprised and flattered that they have been chosen to play the curtain-raising match.
“It was a big surprise that we were going to play the first game because we were expecting Brazil to have that first game,” Doppler said. “Of course it is a big honour and a lot of fun for us to have the first game in such a big, huge centre court.
“We’ve played two times against them. One we won, one time we lost. So I think we both have an equal chance to win or lose. They have a very good blocker (Ranghieri) and a very different style of game that other teams have.”
Both teams will try their best to win over the majority Brazilian crowd to help drive them on for a victory that will help set them up for a place in the elimination rounds.
“We are pretty excited,” Carambula said. “We are expecting a stadium full of people and (we will try to) put them on our side, let them help us, bring the energy and hopefully we’ll come out with a win.”
