Rio de Janeiro, August 11, 2016 – Canada’s Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk booked their place in the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games round of 16 with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-18) victory over Poland’s Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel in the lucky loser round at Copacabana Beach Arena on Thursday.
The win sets up a round of 16 clash against the Netherlands’ Robert Meeuwsen and Alexander Brouwer.
Here’s what they said after the match…
Chaim Schalk, Canada
“It's so satisfying. That's a fantastic team and we just played so steady and just enjoyed every minute. The atmosphere was incredible. We feel all the love and we just have to keep going here.
“We were sitting there just hoping and waiting, and when we got the news that we were in, us and our coaches had a celebration. Then all of a sudden we went from 'oh what's going to happen?' to all of a sudden 'we are ready to go'.”
Ben Saxton, Canada
“It makes this one extra special. We barely got out of the toughest pool maybe ever. We were just sitting around waiting to see if we even got into this game and then it gave us good life to get into this game and be able to have that chance to keep playing in this tournament. It's awesome.”