Sao Paulo, Brazil, September 24, 2014.  A total of five European women’s and men’s duos won their qualification matches on Tuesday to qualify for the main draw of the double-gender USD 800,000 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Sao Paulo Grand Slam.

Only two qualification matches were needed on the men’s side.  In one of them Russia’s Nikita Liamin / Dmitri Barsouk knocked out Argentina’s Pablo Bianchi / Julian Amado Azaad by 2:0 (23-21, 21-12) to find their place among the 32 teams starting main draw action on Wednesday.

In the women’s tournament seven qualification matches were held and four of the victorious teams to advance to the main draw are from Europe - Austria’s Barbara Hansel / Stefanie Schwaiger, Germany’s Chantal Laboureur / Anni Schumacher, Netherlands’ Rimke Braakman / Jantine van der Vlist and Poland’s Jagoda Gruszczynska / Katarzyna Kociolek.

In the only tie-breaker match of the day, Hansel / Schwaiger fought through three tough sets to finally prevail over Italy’s Lucia Bacchi / Guilia Momoli by 2:1 (21-14, 18-21, 18-16) in 56 minutes, the longest match of the day.

Interestingly, the Polish players Karolina Baran and Jagoda Gruszczynska, who jointly won the golden medals from the 2014 CEV U22 Beach Volleyball European Championship this past Sunday, only two days later had to face each other from the opposite sides of the net in Sao Paulo qualifications.  Jagoda Gruszczynska, playing together with Katarzyna Kociolek, managed to defeat her U22 partner Baran, together with Dorota Strag, by 2:0 (21-14, 21-19).  Even more interestingly, Kociolek and Strag made up Baran / Gruszczynska’s opposition in the all-Polish European final in Turkey, bringing home the silver medals as well.

The 2014 FIVB World Tour stop is being held in Sao Paulo through Sunday in a purpose-built venue with four competition courts on the grounds of the Barueri Arena.  The last of 10 FIVB Grand Slams on the 2014 World Tour calendar is using the FIVB format of 32-team main draw tournaments in each gender, featuring round-robin pool play beginning on Wednesday and concluding with a single-elimination bracket for the 24 teams.  Women’s and men’s single-elimination play will begin on Thursday with the semifinals and the bronze medal matches on Saturday.  The two gold medal matches and the awarding ceremony closing the FIVB Sao Paulo Grand Slam will be held on Sunday.

Click here for more info on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Sao Paulo Grand Slam.