The men’s qualifier saw as many as five Olympians progress among the eight teams that advanced to the main draw. Three-time Olympians Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst, of Austria, led the group with their 2-1 (18-21, 22-20, 15-12) victory over Italians Jakob Windisch and Samuele Cottafava.
Austria’s Robin Seidl and American Casey Patterson, who both competed at the Rio 2016 Games, met in the qualifier’s final round and the European and partner Philipp Waller came out on top with a 2-0 (21-8, 21-17) triumph over Patterson and Chase Budinger.
Alex Horst (AUT)
Other Olympians advancing were USA’s Chaim Schalk, who played with Theo Brunner, and Russia’s Nikita Liamin, who progressed alongside Taras Myskiv. The other four teams to secure their spots in the main draw were Denmark’s Kristoffer Abell/Nicolai Hovmann, Norway’s Mathias Berntsen/Hendrik Mol, Belarus’ Aliaksandr Dziadkou/Pavel Piatrushka and Germany’s Alexander Walkenhorst/Sven Winter.
The main draw starts on Wednesday with 32 teams in each gender. The men’s final is scheduled for Saturday, July 10, while the women’s medal matches will happen on Sunday, July 11.
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