Matosinhos, Portugal, June 6, 2014.  The two Portuguese men’s teams, Joao Alves / Simao Pedrosa and Joao Jardim / Joao Almeida, each won both their pool matches played today without losing any sets and have already secured their spots among the top eight of the men’s European Qualification Tournament for the 2014 FIVB Beach Volleyball U17 World Championships.  So did the French team Marc Darrieux / Timothee Platre in Pool C.

Spain’s Oscar Jimenez Gutierrez / Alejandro Huerta Pastor also started with two victories, but since their Pool D is the only one with four teams, they get to play one more leg of matches on Saturday morning.

The competition started today early morning in Praia de Matosinhos, Portugal.  The weather forecast was correct and the event started out facing adverse weather conditions which lead to its suspension for three hours. Despite this fact, it was possible to watch some great action in Matosinhos.

Portugal’s first team Joao Alves and Simao Pedrosa defeated with ease the team from Israel Ofek Berman / Ben Yehuda on their first match of the day with a clear score of 2:0 (21-9, 21-11).  In the next match they faced the Dutch team Nikita Artamonov / Mees Blom and won again in straight sets – 2:0 (21-15, 21-19), this time both teams showing even performances.

Alves / Pedrosa were naturally pleased with the way they have started out this tournament:  “We are very happy.  The day eventually began in not the brightest of the conditions due to the weather, but we ultimately won the two matches by 2:0.  The Dutch team was physically really strong, but fortunately all ended up well for us.  We have already clinched a place among the first eight and now we will see if we manage to get into the first six spots, so we can go directly to the World Championship’s main draw.”