Czech beach volleyball players David Schweiner (front) and Ondřej Perušič in action.
OBO 2021 / Vlastimil Vacek, Right
The Czech beach volleyball players arrived in Tokyo in great shape, in March they won the World Circuit in Doha and this year they won the medal at two other elite world events. However, after Perušič’s positive test for coronavirus, they seemed to lose the entire tournament. In the end, they were only consumed the match with the Latvian pair Martins Plavinš, Edgars Točs and were given a chance to intervene in the games.
After ten days in quarantine, Perušič and Schweiner completed an introductory training session on the Olympic court on Wednesday, and today they played against the Mexicans for hope. At first, they lagged behind the played opponents, they lost 17:21, but in the second set they did not let them lead even once and celebrated a partial success at 21:16. The Czechs controlled the shortened set after Schweiner’s final block at 16:14.
The Czechs have finally arrived! Perusic and Schweiner defeated the Mexicans in the first start
The forced pause was obvious. “The start was very nervous. The training shortage didn’t quite help our self-confidence anymore, even though we knew we had the Mexicans and that even though it would be hard, the match could be won. And I think that except for a few balloons we had “They did well because the Mexicans are a good team. They don’t start in so many competitions, but they also managed to beat world leaders or world champions. And we are happy that we managed to make it to the winning end, albeit with a little luck,” Schweiner rejoiced.
On Saturday, the Czech couple will challenge the reigning world champions Oleg Stojanovsky with Vyacheslav Krasilnikov from Russia. From each of the six groups, two teams and the two best from third places will advance directly to the round of 16. The remaining four pairs from third places will compete in the preliminary round for the remaining two places.
Covid decimated the entire Czech beach volleyball team at the Olympics. Markéta Nausch Sluková and Barbora Hermannová lost their start due to a positive test.
| XXXII. Tokyo Summer Olympics: |
| Beach volleyball: |
| Men: |
| Group B: |
| Perusic, Schweiner (11-ČR) – Gaxiola, Rubio (23-Mex.) 2: 1 (-17, 16, 14), |
| Plavins, Toch (14-Lot.) – Krasilnikov, Stoyanovsky (2-Rus.) 2: 1 (-13, 19, 11) |
| 1. | Plavinš, Točs | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4:1 | 4 |
| 2. | Krasilnikov, Stoyanovsky | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3:3 | 3 |
| 3. | Perusic, Schweiner | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2:3 | 3 |
| 4. | Gaxiola, Blonde | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2:4 | 2 |
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