Rio de Janeiro, August 13, 2016 - Brazil's Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg, 2nd place in pool D, take on Dmitri Barsouk/Nikita Liamin of Russia, 2nd place in pool B, in a round of 16 match that will be their first meeting in FIVB World Tour competition. The winner will advance to the quarterfinals, and the loser will be eliminated with a 9th-place finish.
Head to Head
The two teams have never met on the FIVB World Tour.
Historically the #4 Seed has never played the #23 Seed in the Olympic Games.
Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg, Brazil, Seed #4, Pool D, 1-2, 2nd Place Qualified as Host Nation Representative
• Evandro: July 17, 1990 (26y0m20d), 210 cm (6'11"), 105 kg (233 lbs.), Hometown Rio de Janeiro, 53rd FIVB World Tour event, three gold medals, $316,900 career winnings (ranks 60th)
• Pedro: March 27, 1986 (30y4m10d), 194 cm (6'4"), 95 kg (211 lbs.), Hometown Rio de Janeiro, 132nd FIVB World Tour event (ranks 30th), 16 gold medals (ranks 9th), $916,962 career winnings (ranks 7th)
• Evandro and Pedro have been playing together since 2015. They are playing in their 20th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, two gold medals, $411,000 career winnings (ranks 44th).
• Evandro has played in nine FIVB World Tour final fours with three gold, four silver and two bronze medals.
• Pedro has played in 48 FIVB World Tour final fours with 16 gold, 10 silver, 10 bronze medals and 12 4th place finishes.
• Evandro and Pedro have played in seven Final Fours in 2015-2016 (Silver Moscow Grand Slam 2015, Gold Stavanger Major 2015, Bronze World Championships 2015, Bronze World Tour Finals 2015, Silver Maceió Open 2016, Silver Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam 2016, Gold Gstaad Major 2016).
• Evandro and Pedro won the bronze medal in the FIVB World Championships in 2015 (The Hague).
• Evandro finished 5th in the FIVB World Championships with Vitor Felipe in 2013 (Stare Jablonki).
• Pedro finished 17th in the FIVB World Championships with Harley Marques in 2007 (Gstaad) 17th with Pedro Cunha in 2009 (Stavanger), 5th with Rhooney Ferramenta in 2011 (Rome), and 5th with Bruno Oscar Schmidt in 2013 (Stare Jablonki).
• Evandro and Pedro are currently ranked 14th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 3,890 points and 4th in winnings with $166,000.
• Evandro and Pedro have a career 75-36 (67.6%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events, all in 2015-16.
• Pedro won the gold medal at the U18 World Championships (Xylokastro, Greece) and the silver medal in 2003 (Pattaya, Thailand), both with Ian Borges.
• Pedro won the gold medal at the U21 World Championships with Pedro Cunha in 2003 (Saint Quay Portrieux, France), the bronze medal with Neilton Santos in 2004 (Porto Santo, Portugal), and the gold medal with Bruno Oscar Schmidt in 2006 (Myslowice, Poland).
• Evandro won a gold medal with Vitor Felipe on the South American (CSV) Continental Tour in 2013 (Chile).
• Evandro was named the FIVB World Tour Best Server in 2015.
• Pedro was named the FIVB World Tour Best Blocker in 2013 and was Team of the Year and Tour Points Champion with Harley Marques in 2008.
• Pedro hails from a volleyball family - sisters Carolina and Maria Clara have played on the women’s World Tour and his mother, Isabel, is a former winner on the circuit
• Lost to Nivaldo Diaz/Sergio Gonzalez, Cuba (21), 22-24, 23-21, and 13-15 in 59 minutes.
• Lost to Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk, Canada (16), 21-17, 18-21, and 14-16 in 58 minutes.
• Defeated Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Latvia (9), 21-16, 20-22, and 15-7 in 49 minutes.
Dmitri Barsouk/Nikita Liamin, Russia, Seed #23, Pool B, 2-1, 2nd Place, Qualified from Continental Cup Finals
• Dmitri: January 20, 1980 (36y6m17d), 193 cm (6'4"), 86 kg (191 lbs.), Hometown Krasnodar, 128th FIVB World Tour event (ranks 32nd), two gold medals, $364,262 career winnings (ranks 53rd)
• Nikita: October 14, 1985 (30y9m23d), 203 cm (6'8"), 91 kg (202 lbs.), Hometown Gorkiy, 18th FIVB World Tour event, $23,887 career winnings
• Dmitri and Nikita have been playing together since 2014. They are playing in their 14th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together with $45,775 career winnings.
• Dmitri has played in 14 FIVB World Tour final fours with two gold, three silver, four bronze medals and five 4th place finishes.
• Nikita has played in one FIVB World Tour final four with one bronze medal.
• Dmitri finished 9th in the Olympic Games with Igor Kolodinsky in 2008 (Beijing).
• Dmitri finished 17th in the FIVB World Championships in 2003 (Rio de Janeiro) and 9th in 2005 (Berlin), both with Roman Arkaev, won the silver medal in 2007 (Gstaad) and finished 17th in 2009 (Stavanger), both with Igor Kolodinsky and finished 37th with Alexey Yutvalin in 2011 (Rome) and 37th with Yaroslav Koshkarev in 2015 (The Hague).
• Dmitri and Nikita are currently ranked 35th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 1,930 points and 33rd in winnings with $28,775.
• Dmitri and Nikita have a career 39-27 (59.1%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 27-21 (56.3%) record in 2015-16.
• Dmitri won the silver medal at the 1st European Games with Yaroslav Koshkarev in 2015 (Baku, Azerbaijan).
• Dmitri won the bronze medal at the European (CEV) Continental Championship with Igor Kolodinsky in 2008 (Hamburg, Germany) and one other silver medal on the CEV Continental Tour with Yaroslav Koshkarev in 2015.
• Dmitri was named the FIVB World Tour Most Improved Player in 2007.
• After missing their first opportunity to secure a Copacabana spot by placing third at the CEV Continental Cup competition at the end of June in Stavanger, Norway, the Russian team bounced back with wins over Kazakhstan, Venezuela, Morocco, Canada, Mexico and Belgium at the Continental Cup Finals in Sochi.
• Lost to Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen, Netherlands (2), 15-21, 14-21 in 37 minutes
• Defeated Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak, Poland (11), 21-14 and 21-17 in 34 minutes.
• Defeated Markus Bockermann/Lars Fluggen, Germany (14), 21-14 and 21-17 in 36 minutes.