Focus Shifts to Knockout Tournament in Tokyo

Pool play is coming to an end and the Olympic medal ceremony is just over one week away. Some favorites have suffered defeat with upstarts vying to take their places on the podium, but others are strong as ever. 39 teams still have their Olympic dreams alive, although many are on life support. By this time tomorrow that number will be down to 32 and things will start to get really interesting

Canada and USA on collision course for gold

Two teams that have prevented anything from getting too interesting are Sarah Pavan & Melissa Humana-Paredes and Americans Alix Klineman & April Ross. They came into Tokyo as the top two seeds and cruised through pools A and B. That means that if they meet in Tokyo, it will be for a medal. April Ross already has Olympic silver and bronze, so you know what she wants to leave Tokyo with. The Canadians have a World Championship gold, but are gunning for an even bigger prize. Both teams tend to face each other in Gold Medal matches, both on the World Tour and in the American AVP. If they continue their dominant play for three more matches, we will all be in for a familiar finish.

The other two women’s teams I expected to be challenging for gold both dropped matches in pool play and will be placed into the knockouts through a random draw. Brazil’s Agatha & Duda and Australia’s Taliqua Clancy & Mariafe Artacho del Solar finished second in pools C and E. Brazil dropped their second match of the tournament while Taliqua and Mariafe lost the pool final. It is best to get losses out of the way in pool play, if you have to lose some time. Brazil responded very well to their shock defeat by ending pool play with a 21-18, 21-18 win over Canadians Brandie Wilkerson & Heather Bansley. The knockout tournament draw could create some delicious matchups with the possibility of these two teams popping up anywhere in the brackets. There is even a chance the Australians and Brazil could meet each other in the round of 16.

Women’s challengers

The four teams mentioned above are not the only teams capable of winning gold. American’s Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil made the most thrilling run into Tokyo by winning back to back golds in Sochi and Ostrava. They have won their first two matches, but pool D doesn’t wrap up until tomorrow. They face Ana Patricia and Rebecca for a chance to win the pool. If they lose, that pool is likely to have three teams tied with a 2-1 record. Even with a loss, they can still end up winning the pool tie breaker, as long as they avoid a blowout.

The Australians didn’t win Pool E because they got blasted on Friday by Nadezda Makroguzova & Svetlana Kholomina. The Russians have been tough all year and they had a great start to the tournament by blowing out good teams from Italy and Cuba. Their first set against the Australians was an even more dominant 21-8 demolition. They dropped their first set of the Olympics in the second but finished strong to hold off the resurgent Aussies.

Fan Wang & Xinyi Xia followed up on their victory over Agatha and Duda with a win over Argentina’s Ana Gallay & Fernanda Pereyra. Their pool C victory means they will start the knockout round against one of the top third place finishers. It is likely that it will be whoever finishes third in pool D, since Heather Bansley & Brandie Wilkerson are the second best of the third place teams at the moment and two teams from the same pool can’t meet in the round of 16.

Nina Betschart & Tanja Hüberli won both of their matches 2-1 to win Pool F. They will play a second place team from another pool next.

Ahmed and Cherif bring 2021 form to Olympics

The hottest men’s team entering the Olympics is also the hottest team at the Olympics. Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Samba haven’t dropped a set yet in Tokyo and cruised to the top of Pool C. Entering the tournament, most people agreed that Pool C was the most difficult, making their 6-0 set record even more impressive. I can’t think of a better team to highlight the sport to an expanded global audience. Their amazing athleticism, broad smiles and competitive edge make them fan favorites by the end of every tournament. The great camera angles provided by the Olympic broadcast makes their appeal even greater. If beach volleyball takes off in popularity due to the Olympics, we’ll likely have Ahmed and Cherif to thank for it.

They don’t have to wait for the draw to learn who they will play next. It’s 2008 Olympic gold medalist Phil Dalhausser and his partner Nick Lucena. The Americans played in Pool D and are among the best two third place finishers, meaning there is only one place for them to slot into the bracket.

Fallen favorites down but not out

After surviving early scares in Tokyo, Anders Mol & Chistian Sorum and Viacheslav Krasilnikov & Oleg Stoyanovskiy have both lost. Pool A has concluded and we know the Beachvolley Vikings finished second to the team that knocked them off, Konstantin Semenov & Ilya Leshukov. Krasilnikov and Stoyanovskiy lost a shocker to Latvians Edgars Tocs and Martins Plavins. The Russian World Champs still have one match to go against Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner. If they win, they could still end up taking first in Pool B. If they lose and Mexico scores a big win against Latvia, they could be eliminated before the knockouts begin. How crazy would that be? Those are the final two matches of pool play as the drama stays high to the end. Mexico / Latvia play first at 3pm in Tokyo with Russia / Czech Republic taking the sand an hour later. As for the Pool A winners, Konstantin and Ilya are for real. The ‘Lucky Losers’ that they face will likely be feeling very unlucky by the time their round of 16 match is over.

Brazil’s men top their pools

Alison and Alvaro lost in pool play to Phil and Nick, but beat Alexander Brouwer & Robert Meeuwsen. All three teams ended up 2-1, but the Brazilians won the tie breaker and top Pool D. Evandro and Bruno had to go extra time to win Pool E. They came from a set down against Poland’s Grzegorz Fijalek & Michal Bryl in the group finale. While other giants are slipping and sliding in the Tokyo sand, these guys are finding very firm footing. As Pool E winners, they will face the second place team from another pool. That could be Anders and Christian. Now wouldn’t that be interesting.

Three pools yet to conclude

Women’s Pool D and Men’s Pool B’s final matches have major implications for the knockout brackets makeup. Men’s Pool F also has one match remaining between Japanese hosts Yusuke “Gottsu” Ishijima & Katsuhiro Shiratori and Germany’s Julius Thole and Clemens Wickler. Thole & Wickler dropped their opening match against Italy’s Daniele Lupo & Paolo Nicolai but won their second against Poland’s Piotr Kantor & Bartosz Losiak . The Italians look as good as they have in years and clinched the top spot in the pool. Poland has finished pool play. They lost two but beat Japan. A surprise win for Japan would create a three way tie at the bottom of the pool.

Last chance for lucky losers

All the third place teams are compared to determine who gets to go straight into the knockout round and who plays in the lucky losers round. Three pools may still have some more movement Saturday, but if things end the way they are today, this is what it will look like. The teams in the green blocks will play against the winners of Pools C & D. The matching colors will play against each other in Lucky Losers matches. The winners of those four matches face the winners of Pools A & B. Ana Patricia and Rebecca or Claes and Sponcil could replace Tina and Anastasija in Pool D’s 3rd position, but would also be in the green zone. The wild conclusion to men’s Pool B could reshuffle the men’s column dramatically.