Canada looking for first win against Austria to wrap up day five

Rio de Janeiro, August 10, 2016 - Canada's Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter will be looking for their first win in pool A against Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst of Austria in a pool A match that wraps up day five in Rio.  A loss by Canada will send them packing with a 19th-place finish, while a win will put both teams at 1-2 and their fate will depend on the result of the Italy and Brazil match.  A win by Austria will give them two wins in the pool, and their fate will also depend on the results of the Italy vs. Brazil match.

Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst and Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter have split their two meetings on the FIVB World Tour, with the Swiss winning the last match in 2015.

• Doppler/Horst won 21-18 and 22-20 in 43 minutes, Long Beach Grand Slam, Round of 16, 08/21/2015

• Binstock/Schachter won 20-22, 21-18, and 15-11 in 50 minutes, São Paulo Grand Slam, Pool Play, 09/24/2014

Historically the #24 seed has won two of the three meetings in the Olympic Games.

• Clemens Doppler/Alexander Horst (24), Austria def. Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai (13), Italy, 21-18, 21-17 in 41 minutes, Pool Play, London (2012).

• Florian Gosch/Alexander Horst (24), Austria def. Kristjan Kais/Rivo Vesik (13), Estonia, 21-16, 18-21, 15-12 in 52 minutes, Pool Play, Beijing (2008).

• Andrew Schacht/Joshua Slack (13), Australia def. Bjorn Maaseide/Iver Horrem (24), Norway, 21-18, 21-17 in 45 minutes, Pool Play, Athens (2004).

• Clemens: September 6, 1980 (35y11m0d), 200 cm (6'7"), 87 kg (193 lbs.), Hometown Steyr, 156th FIVB World Tour event, $477,282 career winnings (ranks 36th)

• Alexander: December 20, 1982 (33y7m17d), 186 cm (6'1"), 85 kg (189 lbs.), Hometown Vienna, 110th FIVB World Tour event, $368,600 career winnings (ranks 52nd)

• Clemens and Alexander have been playing together since 2012. They are playing in their 43rd FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, $421,100 career winnings (ranks 43rd).

• Clemens has played in eight FIVB World Tour final fours with two silver medals, two bronze medals and four 4th place finishes.

• Alexander has played in nine FIVB World Tour final fours with two silver medals, two bronze medals and five 4th place finishes.

• Clemens and Alexander have played in three Final Fours in 2015-2016 (4th St. Petersburg Grand Slam 2015, Bronze Yokohama Grand Slam 2015, Silver Porec Major 2016).

• Clemens and Alexander finished 19th in the Olympic Games in 2012 (London).

• Clemens finished 9th in the Olympic Games with Peter Gartmayer in 2008 (Beijing).

• Alexander finished 5th in the Olympic Games with Florian Gosch in 2008 (Beijing).

• Clemens and Alexander finished 9th in the FIVB World Championships in 2013 (Stare Jablonki) and 17th in 2015 (The Hague).

• Clemens finished 33rd in the FIVB World Championships with Dietmar Maderbock in 2001 (Klagenfurt), finished 17th in 2003 (Rio de Janeiro) and 25th in 2005 (Berlin), both with Nikolas Berger , 9th  with Peter Gartmayer in 2007 (Gstaad),  17th in 2009 (Stavanger) and 9th in 2011 (Rome), both with Matthias Mellitzer.

• Alexander finished 9th in the FIVB World Championships in 2007 (Gstaad) and 9th in 2009 (Stavanger), both with Florian Gosch , and 17th with Daniel Mullner in 2011 (Rome).

• Clemens and Alexander are currently ranked 25th in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 2,740 points and 15th in winnings with $95,200.

• Clemens (155) ranks 14th and Alexander (109) ranks 49th in all-time FIVB World Tour individual tournaments.  Clemens has played in more FIVB World Tour events than any other men's player competing in the Rio Olympics.

• Clemens and Alexander have a career 99-94 (51.3%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 46-47 (49.5%) record in 2015-16.

• Clemens and Alexander won the bronze medal at the European (CEV) Continental Championships in 2014 (Cagliari, Italy) along with one other gold medal and one silver medal on the CEV Continental Tour in 2013-14.

• Clemens won gold medals at the CEV Continental Championships with Nikolas Berger in 2003 (Alanya, Turkey) and Peter Gartmayer in 2007 (Valencia, Spain) along with two silver medals on the CEV Continental Tour with Peter Gartmayer and Matthias Mellitzer from 2006-10. 

• Alexander won the silver medal at the CEV European Championship Final with Florian Gosch in 2009 (Sochi, Russia) along with one other silver medal on the CEV Continental Tour with Florian Gosch in 2008.

• Lost to Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri, Italy (12), 14-21 and 13-21 in 37 minutes

• Defeated Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil (1), 23-21, 16-21, and 15-13 in 57 minutes.

• Josh: January 12, 1981 (35y6m25d), 196 cm (6'5"), 98 kg (218 lbs.), Hometown Toronto, 72nd FIVB World Tour event, $114,312 career winnings.

• Sam: May 8, 1990 (26y2m29d), 198 cm (6'6"), 86 kg (191 lbs.), Hometown Richmond Hill, 45th FIVB World Tour event, $108,437 career winnings.

• Josh and Sam have been playing together since 2013. They are playing in their 31st FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, one gold medal, 206,125 career winnings (ranks 93rd).

• Josh has played in five FIVB World Tour final fours with one gold medal, three silver medals and one 4th place finish.

• Sam has played in five FIVB World Tour final fours with one gold, three silver medals and one 4th place finish.

• Josh and Sam have played in two Final Fours in 2015-2016 (Silver Porec Major Series 2015, Silver Cincinnati Open 2016).

• Josh finished 17th in the Olympic Games with Martin Reader in 2012 (London).

• Josh and Sam finished 9th in the FIVB World Championships in 2015 (The Hague).

• Josh and Sam are currently ranked 23rd in FIVB World Tour points in 2016 with 3,010 points and 24th in winnings with $47,750.

• Josh and Sam have a career 75-66 (53.2%) match record in FIVB World Tour Events and a 51-56 (47.7%) record in 2015-16.

• Josh and Sam won a gold medal on the NORCECA Continental Tour in 2014 (Toronto, Canada) along with two other silver medals and one bronze medal in 2013-14.

• Josh won a gold medal on the NORCECA Continental Tour with Rich VanHuizen in 2011 (Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands) along with three other silver medals and two bronze medals with Matt Zbyszewski, Andrew Hinchey, and Martin Reader from 2009-12.

• Sam won a silver medal on the NORCECA Continental Tour with Maverick Hatch in 2012.

• Sam won the gold medal at the U21 World Championships with Garrett May in 2010 (Alanya, Turkey).

• Two weeks after missing qualifying for the Rio Olympics by two spots via the FIVB World Tour, Josh and Sam teamed with Grant O’Gorman/Sam Pedlow to net Canada second men’s berth in Rio by winning a spot in the Continental Cup Finals in Sochi, Russia. After placing second to Cuba in the NORCECA competition, they combined to post a 5-0 record in Sochi with wins over Morocco, Kazakhstan, Venezuela and Russia in pool play, and Venezuela in the semi-finals. To determine who was to play in Rio, Josh and Sam defeated O’Gorman and Pedlow in three sets at North Bay for the Copacabana spot.

• Lost to Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt, Brazil (1), 19-21 and 20-22 in 43 minutes.