Latvian beach volleyball duo Mārtiņš Pļaviņš / Edgars Točs entered the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympic Games on Monday.
The Latvian duo Pļaviņš / Točs, sown with the 14th number in the competition, won the eighth final with a result of 2: 0 (21:19, 21:18) over the Brazilians Bruns Oskars Šmits and Evandras Gonsalves Oliveirs, who were sown with the eighth number in the tournament.
The Latvians Hosue Gaston and Jose Rubio (23rd) or other Brazilians – Olympic champion Alison Seruti, who is playing together with Alvaro Filja (4th), will face the Latvians in the quarterfinals on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.
A successful attack and the mistake of the opponents at the beginning of the game allowed the Latvians to take the lead with 2: 0. Next time, the Latvians gained a two-point lead after the Brazilian duo made a mistake and continued to hit the ball in their attack – 8: 6. Later, Pļaviņš’s stroke along the line gave a three-point handicap – 10: 7.
In the middle of the set, after several strings of errors, Pļaviņš and Toča already reached the drivers (12:13), but regained three points at once, finally attacking Pļaviņš (15:13). Later, Evandra equalized the result with “Aise” (16:16), but the Latvians again answered with two points after the Brazilian mistakes. Next, the accumulated advantage (20:17) made it possible to get to three set balls, realizing the third of them with the opponent’s mistake to the net – 21:19.
At the beginning of the second set, the duo scored points at the opponents’ serve, until for the first time the Latvians gained a two-point advantage after Brunu’s mistake in receiving the service (6: 4). The blow of Pļaviņš in the line gave the Latvians a three-point handicap (8: 5). Later, the teams scored 1-3 points, but a series of Brazilian mistakes in the block allowed Pļaviņš / Toča to reach 15:11.
The Brazilian beach volleyball players, who were tired at the top of the set, could not play, Latvia won with a strong Toča blow with 21:18.
Schmidt was crowned Olympic champion in Rio de Janeiro five years ago with Alison Seruti, but Evandra and his partner lost in the quarterfinals.
Pļaviņš / Točs won in group B in two of the three games and took the second place. In the first fight in Tokyo, Pļaviņš / Točs won on the court without the Czechs Ondrzej Perusic and David Schweiner (11th), in the second fight they defeated the world champions 2-1 – the duo of the Russian Olympic Committee (OKR) Vyacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovsky, and in the third 0-2 acknowledged the superiority of the Mexican Hosue Gaston and Jose Rubio (23rd).
Schmidt / Evandru won all three Group E games. Chileans Marko Grimalts and Estevan Grimalts (17th) were defeated first, then a 2-0 victory over Moroccans Muhammad Abic / Zuheira Elgrau (20th), and finally 2-1 victory over Poles Mihal Bril / Gzegozh. Fijaleku (5.).
The duo met for the only time in the summer of 2019, when Pļaviņš / Točs was 2-0 (21:16, 21:13) in two sets in the quarterfinals of the Ešpiņi four-star tournament.
It has already been reported that on Sunday, in the eighth final, the Latvian women’s duo Tīna Graudiņa / Anastasia Kravchenoka (16th) played against the athletes of the Russian Olympic Committee Nadezhda Makroguzov / Svetlana Holomin, who were sown with the eighth number in the tournament – 2-1 (16:21, 21:17, 15:13).
In the quarterfinals, the Latvians will meet with Canadian Heter Bensley and Brandy Wilkerson (10th) on Tuesday.
For both men and women, participation in the eighth final was ensured by the two best teams of all six groups, as well as the two best third place winners. The other four third place winners were determined by two more places in the eighth final in one “lucky loser” match.
The Olympic champions will be determined on August 6 and 7.
