Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 9, 2016 - Reinder Nummerdor and Christiaan Varenhorst of The Netherlands maintained their leadership in men’s Pool E in the Beach Volleyball competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games by posting their second win in the quadrennial here Tuesday evening over a team from Poland.
With their 2-1 (21-17, 19-21, 15-9) win in 51 minutes over Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel of Poland, Nummerdor and Varenhorst are guaranteed a berth in the elimination rounds where the Dutch will be competing Thursday to secure the fifth-seeded spot in the bracket.
The silver medal team from the 2015 FIVB World Championships in The Hague, Nummerdor and Varenhorst broke from a 6-6 tie in the third-and-deciding set to score nine of the last 12 points in the match to defeat Fijalek and Prudel for the fourth-time internationally in five matches. The first Dutch win over the Poles March 10 in a pool play match on Copacabana at the Rio Grand Slam.
Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Konstantin Semenov will be the next opponent for Dutch Thursday in pool play as the Russian defeated Fijalek and Prudel in their first Rio match Sunday. The Russians will play the Grimalt cousins (Esteban and Marco) later Tuesday.
