Samoilov / Šmēdiņš starts the decisive tournament in the fight for the Olympic ticket with a victory – Volleyball

Pļaviņš / Točs, who were sown with the 11th number in the Ostrava competition, in the F group match with 0-2 (20:22, 19:21) gave way to the 2013 world champions from the Netherlands – Alexander Brouver and Robert Meissen (22nd)

A similar fight took place on the field, with the Dutch proving to be superior at the top of the first set.

At the beginning of the second set, the Latvian pair was half a step ahead all the time, but in the middle of the set, the world champions gained the lead (16:13), which was maintained until the end of the fight, with a decisive attack blow to Brouver.

In the fight to enter the playoffs, Latvians will meet with the Russian duo Ilya Leshukov / Konstantin Semyonov, who were seeded with the sixth number in the tournament and to whom the Latvian duo in the previous stage in Sochi lost 0-2 (7:21, 14:21).

The second Latvian duo in the competition Aleksandrs Samoilovs / Jānis Šmēdiņš (16th) in the first group A fight with 2-1 (17:21, 21:19, 15: 1) beat the veterans from Spain – Adrian Gavir and Pavlo Errer (17th).

After making concessions in the first set, the Latvians started the second with the lead, achieving a few points at the beginning of the set, but the Spaniards soon equalized the result – 8: 8.

At that moment, the Latvian duo demanded a medical break, during which medical assistance was provided to Samoilov. After that, a similar fight took place, in which the last point in the set with the Samoilov block was scored by the Latvians – 21:19.

After two Spanish ball strikes, Samoilovs / Šmēdiņš reached 2: 0 at the beginning of the third set. A bigger breakthrough was achieved in the second half of the set – 12: 8, keeping the lead until the end of the fight – 15:11, which was achieved after Samoilov’s deception.

For Samoilov / Šmēdiņš, this tournament is the last in the battle for points in the Olympic rank, falling below the qualification bar before the Ostrava competition.

The Latvian duo Tīna Graudiņa and Anastasija Kravčenoka in the first duel of group G, placed in the women’s tournament with the tenth number, gave up 0-2 (20:22, 17:21) to the twin sisters Megana and Nikola Maknamar from Canada (23rd).

To enter the playoffs, the second losing duo in subgroup G will have to win – Spaniard Maria Carro and Paul Soria (26th), who previously overcame the qualifying barrier.

There are 32 duets in the main tournament, which are divided into eight subgroups. First, the first and fourth, as well as the second and third teams of the group meet, and then the winners of both matches, as well as the losers, join forces. The team that wins in both games automatically reaches the second round of the elimination tournament, the units that win one win advance to the first round of the elimination competition, but the losing pair in both matches must finish the competition.

Graudiņa / Kravčenoka, as well as Pļaviņš / Točs have already earned one ticket to Latvia for the Olympic Games, but Samoilov / Šmēdiņš also has the opportunity to qualify for Tokyo.