Olympic drawing of lots sets pools for Tokyo

The 24 European beach volleyball teams (13 men’s and 11 women’s) that qualified for the Tokyo Olympics found out on Monday who will be their first opponents in Japan as the drawing of lots for the Olympic tournament was completed in Moscow, Russia.

The 24 duos in each gender that secured the right of making the trip to Tokyo later this month will be split in six groups of four and will play each of their three pool opponents in the first stage of the event. First and second-placed teams in each pool advance directly to the Round of 16, as do the two best third-place finishers. The other four will be drew in two elimination matches with the winner moving on.

The winners of the last three editions of the EuroBeachVolley and the top-ranked team in the world right now, Norwegians Anders Mol and Christian Sørum will head pool A and will play against Konstantin Semenov/Ilya Leshukov, who will represent the Russian Olympic Committee, Adrian Gaviura/Pablo Herrera of Spain and Christopher McHugh/Damien Schumann of Australia.

Reigning world champions Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Viacheslav Krasilnikov, who will represent the Russian Olympic Committee in Tokyo, will also be part of an European-heavy pool B. They will meet Latvia’s Martins Plavins/Edgars Tocs, Czech Republic’s Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner and Mexico’s Jose Rubio/Josue Gaxiola.

Pool F will also feature three European teams in Germany’s Julius Thole/Clemens Wickler, Italy’s Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo and Poland’s Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak.

Reigning European champions Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré of Switzerland were drawn on women's pool A and will face reigning world champions and top-seeded Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes of Canada, Julia Sude and Karla Borger of Germany and Dutch up-and-comers Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam.

Reigning Olympic champion Laura Ludwig and her German partner Maggie Kozuch will also have two fellow Europeans on their side on Pool F. Switzerland’s Tanja Hüberli/Nina Betschart, Czech Republic’s Marketa Sluková/Barbora Hermannová and Japan’s Miki Ishii/Megumi Murakami are the other teams in the pool.

These are the two pools with the most European teams, with three representatives each. Pool C is the only to not have any teams from the continent while Pool D features only one, 2019 EuroBeachVolley winners Tina Graudina and Anastasija Kravcenoka of Latvia.

The beach volleyball Olympic tournament is set to start on July 24, with ten matches scheduled for the day. The women’s medal matches are set to happen on August 6, when day before the deciding matches for the men. The full calendar is expected to be announced over the next week.

After completing their participation at the Tokyo Olympics, the European teams will head straight to Vienna to take part in the A1 CEV EuroBeachVolley presented by Swatch, from August 11-15.

Olympic Pools – Men

Pool A – Anders Mol/Christian Sørum (Norway), Konstantin Semenov/Ilya Leshukov (Russian Olympic Committee), Adrian Gavira/Pablo Herrera (Spain), Christopher McHugh/Damien Schumann (Australia)

Pool B – Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Viacheslav Krasilnikov (Russian Olympic Committee), Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner (Czech Republic), Martins Plavins/Edgars Tocs (Latvia), Jose Rubio/Josue Gaxiola (Mexico)

Pool C – Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan (Qatar), Jake Gibb/Taylor Crabb (USA), Adrian Carambula/Enrico Rossi (Italy), Adrian Heidrich/Mirco Gerson (Switzerland)

Pool D – Alison Cerutti/Alvaro Filho (Brazil), Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen (Netherlands), Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena (USA), Julian Azaad/Nicolas Capogrosso (Argentina)

Pool E – Grzegorz Fijalek/Michal Bryl (Poland), Evandro Goncalves/Bruno Schmidt (Brazil), Marco Grimalt/Esteban Grimalt (Chile), Mohamed Abicha/Zouheir Elgraoui (Morocco)

Pool F – Yusuke ‘Gottsu’ Ishijima/Katsuhiro Shiratori (Japan), Julius Thole/Clemens Wickler (Germany), Paolo Nicolai/Daniele Lupo (Italy), Piotr Kantor/Bartosz Losiak (Poland)

Olympic Pools – Women

Pool A – Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes (Canada), Joana Heidrich/Anouk Vergé-Dépré (Switzerland), Julia Sude/Karla Borger (Germany), Raisa Schoon/Katja Stam (Netherlands)

Pool B – April Ross/Alix Klineman (USA), Sanne Keizer/Madelein Meppelink (Netherlands), Liliana Fernandez/Elsa Baquerizo (Spain), Chen Xue/Xinxin Wang (China)

Pool C – Agatha Bednarczuk/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa (Brazil), Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson (Canada), Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia (China), Ana Gallay/Fernanda Pereyra (Argentina)

Pool D – Rebecca Cavalcanti/Ana Patricia Ramos (Brazil), Kelly Claes/Sarah Sponcil (USA), Tina Graudina/Anastasija Kravcenoka (Latvia), Gaudencia Makokha/Brackcides Khadambi (Kenya)

Pool E – Taliqua Clancy/Mariafe Artacho (Australia), Nadezda Makroguzova/Svetlana Kholomina (Russian Olympic Committee), Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth (Italy), Leila Martinez/Lidiannis ‘Lidy’ Echeverria (Cuba)

Pool F – Miki Ishii/Megumi Murakami (Japan), Tanja Hüberli/Nina Betschart (Switzerland), Laura Ludwig/Maggie Kozuch (Germany), Marketa Sluková/Barbora Hermannová (Czech Republic)