30/08/2019 21:00
Austrians shine bright at World Tour 1-Star event in Montpellier
2019 FIVB World Tour 1-Star - Montpellier
Montpellier, France, August 30, 2019. Two teams from Austria plus one from the Netherlands and France remain in contention for top honours at the FIVB World Tour 1-Star event in Montpellier, France.
Dirk Boehlé and Stefan Boermans claimed the Dutch derby with Tom van Steenis and Sven Vismans. Boehlé/Boermans secured a 23-21, 21-12 victory in the first of the quarterfinals to reach the semis. Boermans showed a truly remarkable blocking game, as the 203 cm tall player symbolically scored the last point of the match at the net.
Austrian qualifiers Arwin Kopschar/Michael Murauer played the English brothers Joaquin and Javier Bello in the next match. Bello/Bello cancelled a match point for their opponents, but finally had to concede defeat as the Austrians celebrated yet another victory in Montpellier (21-19, 21-14).
All of the teams that had contested the Round of 12 earlier in the day lost in the quarterfinals. Austria’s Florian Schnetzer (pictured above)/Laurenz Leitner made it to the semis as well as they needed two sets only to edge Thailand’s Nuttanon Inkiew/Sedtawat Padsawud (21-19, 21-15), who earlier had claimed an Asian derby with Japan’s Kensuke Shoji and Masato Kurasaka.
Quincy Ayé/Arnaud Gauthier-Rat were the only French team still in the competition and they prevented a third Austrian tandem from making the semis as they came from behind to edge Moritz Fabian Kindl/Mathias Seiser 21-23, 21-11, 15-9 to challenge Schnetzer/Leitner for a spot in the gold medal match.
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