In the second level tournament, the 13th-ranked Latvian duo defeated the Polish pair Piotr Kantor/Macej Rudol, who were ranked ninth in the tournament, 2-0 (21:17, 21:14) in the fight for bronze.
Before that, in the round of 16, Samoilovs/Šmēdiņš defeated the Dutch Leona Luini/Ruben Penning, who were number 11 in the competition, with the result 2-1 (14:21, 21:15, 15:12), but in the quarter-final with 2-1 (21:19, 14:21, 15:11) beat the Italians Adrian Carambola/Enrico Rossi (2nd). On the other hand, in the semi-finals, the Latvian duet lost 1-2 (21:14, 18:21, 9:15) to the Poles Michal Brilu/Bartoš Losjak (3rd).
In the subgroup, Samoilovs/Šmēdiņš first won 2-0 (21:15, 21:17) against Australians Christopher McCue and Paul Burnett, who are number 12, securing a place in the elimination tournament. In the second match, they lost 0-2 (21:23, 18:21) to the Dutchmen Christian Fahrenhorst and Steffen van de Velde, who play with the first number in Portugal.
It has already been reported that Edgars Tocs/Artūrs Rinkevičs did not pass the qualification for this tournament on Thursday, stopping in the second round of selection. Toč’s usual partner, Kristians Fokerots, is participating in the European U-20 Championship this week, while Rinkevič’s partner, Ardis Bedrītis, suffered a shoulder injury.
The highest competition in the “Beach Pro Tour” ranking this year is called “Elite 16”, the second ranking is “Challenge”, the third is the “Futures” competition. In the first “Challenge” tournament of the season in Mexico, Samoilovs/Šmēdiņš won the third place.
