Unique Ostrava industrial venue set to host its third World Tour event

The final 4-star FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour event that counts towards Olympic qualifying on the road to Tokyo 2020 has already started. With a couple of country quota matches, the J&T Banka Ostrava Beach Open 2021 got under way on Tuesday in Czechia’s third largest city. The unique venue at the Lower Vitkovice industrial heritage site in Ostrava welcomes beach volleyball’s international elite for the third time, after the fabulous tournaments in 2018 and 2019 and a pandemic-prompted cancellation in 2020.

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An amazing array of 144 teams (74 men’s and 70 women’s duos) from 36 different countries, representing all five continental confederations, have signed up to play in Ostrava. The US$ 300,000 prize money tournament will continue with Wednesday’s qualifications and will last through Sunday, June 6, when the two sets of medals will be awarded.

The first country quota fixture of the day was a match that could have put a stop to the Olympic aspirations of USA’s Kerri Walsh Jennings and Brooke Sweat, had they lost it. It didn’t. In a very tight and competitive game, with several changes in the lead, their experience paid off with a straight-set 2-0 (21-18, 21-19) win over Emily Day and Sara Hughes.

In the German country quota match, Kim Behrens and Sandra Ittlinger prevailed over Leonie Kortzinger and Chantal Laboureur on the way to an emphatic 2-0 (21-15, 21-11) victory, with Ittlinger acing for the winning point.

A 32-team main draw will feature a modified pool play system with the top three duos in each four-team pool advancing to the single elimination phase in each gender. The pool winners will advance straight to the eighthfinals, while the pool runners-up and the third-placed pairs will have the chance to make it there through the round of 24. With 24 pairs per gender seeded directly into the main draw, the remaining eight vacancies will be filled in Wednesday’s qualifications.

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MEVZA teams that will start tomorrow in the Qualification tournament:
09:00 Alvarez M./Moreno (ESP) – Strauss N./Strauss T. (AUT)
09:50 Klinger D./Klinger R. (AUT) – Jupiter/Chamereau (FRA)
10:40 Zolnercikova/Svobodova (CZE) – Megan/Nicole (CAN)
10:40 Van Iersel/Ypma (NED) – Dostalova A./Dostalova M. (CZE)
11:30 Dunarova/Resova (CZE) – Behrens/Ittlinger (GER)
12:20 Zemljak/Pokeršnik (SLO) – Saxton/O’Gorman (CAN)
12:20 Doppler/Horst (AUT) – Viscovich/Ranghieri (ITA)
13:10 Fredericks/Williams (RSA) – Seidl Rob./Waller (AUT)
14:00 Guto/Arthur (BRA) – Sepka/Semerad (CZE)
14:00 Huber A./Dressler (AUT) – Kuvichka/Kislytsyn (RUS)
14:50 Pedrosa/Campos (POR) – Horl/Pristauz (AUT)