Sochi (Russia), May 29, LETA. Latvian beach volleyball players – Aleksandrs Samoilovs and Jānis Šmēdiņš – on Saturday in Sochi in the quarterfinals of the World Tour four-star tournament gave way to competitors in the fight for the Olympic ticket – the Polish duo.
In the competition with the number 21, the Latvian duo gave in to the Polish couple Pjotr Kantors / Bartošos Losjaks (18th) – 0: 2 (21:23, 14:21).
In the first set, after a similar start, the Poles won the middle of the set by several points, but the Latvian pair caught them, the winner decided at the top of the set, where Kantors and Losjaks scored the last two points.
In the second set, the Poles took the lead from the very beginning, not giving up the lead, but only increasing the difference in the result.
This was also a fight for the Tokyo Olympics roadmap, as Latvians with 6040 points now occupy the last place in the Olympic rank, which gives the right to start in Japan, but Poles with 5940 points are the closest followers.
On Saturday, Samoilovs / Šmēdiņš beat the Swiss duo Adrian Heidrich / Mirko Gersons 2-1 (23:21, 20:22, 15:13) in the second round of the “play-off” tournament, who were placed in the tournament with the 23rd number.
It has already been reported that in Group E, Latvians first conceded to the Americans with 0-2 (10:21, 15:21) – Nikolas Lusen / Filip Dalhauser, who were assigned the 12th number, but with 2-0 (21:18, 21:17) defeated the Dutchman Stefan Borman and Jorik de Grut, who were awarded the 28th number.
In the first round of the playoffs, Samoilov / Šmēdiņš beat the world ranking leaders 2-1 (21:18, 14:21, 15: 9) on Friday – the Norwegian duo Annešs Mūls / Kristians Sērums.
It has already been reported that the first round of the “play-off” tournament on Friday was not overcome by the pair Plaviņš / Točs, who were placed in the competition with the eighth number.
In the first round of the qualifying tournament, Latvian beach volleyball players Artūrs Rinkevičs and Ardis Daniels Bedrītis lost.
Anastasija Kravčenoka and Tīna Graudiņa will also start in the world tour stage in Sochi, who will fight for the third place on Saturday.
The tournament in Sochi will end on Sunday.
Graudiņa / Kravčenoka, as well as Pļaviņš / Točs have already earned one ticket to Latvia for the Tokyo Olympics, but Samoilov / Šmēdiņš also has good opportunities to qualify for Tokyo.
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