Pedro Solberg (pictured) and Brazilian partner Evandro Goncalves must win Thursday to have an opportunity to play in the elimination rounds of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 10, 2016 - The sixth and final day of pool play in the Beach Volleyball competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will feature group deciders for three women’s and three men’s consortiums highlighted by matches for two Brazilian pairs here Thursday.
Following the 12 pool matches with six each for men and women, the first four “knock-out” contests will be play to set the field for the 16-team elimination rounds for both genders at the 12,000-seat “Coliseu on Copacabana”. The “Sweet 16” matches for both men and women will be played Friday and Saturday.
Highlighting Wednesday’s schedule will be matches for two Brazilian pairs featuring Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca in the women’s draw and Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg in the men’s competition. While Talita and Larissa are guaranteed a spot in the elimination bracket for women, Evandro and Pedro must defeat a team from Latvia to have an opportunity to play in the next phase of the men’s Copacabana quadrennial.
Talita and Larissa will be challenged by Monika Brzostek and Kinga Kolosinska of Poland in the deciding match Pool A match as the two teams will be meeting internationally for the first-time. As both pairs defeated tandems from Russia and the United States, the winner of the Brazil vs. Poland match will assume the top-seeded in the elimination phase of the competition.
In Evandro and Pedro’s Pool D where the Brazilians play Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Janis Smedins of Latvia Thursday, Cubans Nivaldo Diaz and Sergio Gonzalez are the group leader after defeating both teams on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively.
A NORCECA Continental Cup qualifier for Rio, Diaz and Gonzalez conclude group action against Canadians Ben Saxton and Chaim Schalk. With Evandro and Pedro sporting a 0-2 match mark, the Latvians and Canadians are 1-1 in the pool and need to win to elimination any doubts about playing in the next phase of the competition. The Brazilians have won their only match with Samoilovs and Smedins with Saxton and Schalk playing the Cubans for the first-time in a FIVB match.
Other key women’s matches Thursday feature pool leaders Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst of Germany (Pool D) and Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan of Canada (Pool E). With both teams looking for their third-straight group victory, the Germans play Laura Giombini/Marta Menegatti of Italy while the Canadians are challenged by Karla Borger/Britta Buthe of Germany.
Other Men’s pool leader seeking their third group victory are Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena of the United States (Pool C) and Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst of The Netherlands (Pool E). The American play 1-1 Daniele Lupo/Paolo Nicolai of Italy while the Dutch meet 2-0 Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Konstantin Semenov of Russia. Both Dalhausser/Lucena and Nummerdor/Varenhorst have 2-1 international match marks against their Thursday opponents.
