Lucerne, Switzerland, May 11, 2016 – Brazil’s Matheus Maia Terra de Faria and Adrielson Dos Santos Silva made it clear they have only one goal at the FIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships this week in Lucerne: a medal. On Wednesday they took their first hurdle by qualifying for the main draw.
The Brazilians booked three straight wins over Yio/Shen from Singapore (21-10, 21-13), Spain’s Huerta/Rojas (21-16, 21-18) and Czech team Vala/Stastny (21-10, 21-13) in the qualification tournament at the Lido venue on the shore of Swiss Lake Lucerne.
“We are excited, because we won three games”, the 19-year old Maia said. “Our most difficult was the one against Spain. They are a very good team and we had to really give our best.”
“Were excited because this is our third tournament together and we are here doing beautiful and we’re playing well”, he continued. Maia competed at a FIVB age-group event before, finishing 17th two years ago at the FIVB U19 in Porto with Pedro Henrique.
But for 18-year old Adrielson the U21 is his first FIVB event. “I am very happy”, he said after their final match of the day. “Because it’s the first time I have qualified for a World Championship and now I expect to go all the way to the final.”
One of their biggest adversaries on the way to the podium are their compatriots George Souto Maior Wanderley and Arthur Diego Mariano Lanci. This other Brazilian pair won the FIVB U19 in 2014.
Maia: “We are friends with them and respect them, but we’re on the same level. We have the opportunity to train with them, so we’re prepared to face the best here, because we already train with the best. So I think we have everything to play a good competition here and who knows even make it to the final.”
Poland, Norway and RussiaPoland, Norway and Russia also added a second team to main draw. All three teams had a bye in the first qualification round. First seeded Mateusz Lysikowski and Mateusz Paszkowski from Poland defeated teams from China and England.
Norway’s Havard Aarrestad and Aleksander Sandlie Sorum booked wins over Italy and Austria and Russia’s Maxim Sivolap and Taras Myskiv defeated teams from Lithuania and the Netherlands.
Lucky losers from the Netherlands, England, Austria and the Czech Republic were also added to main draw.
Quick linksFIVB Beach Volleyball U21 World Championships Lucerne 2016Men - Qualification resultsWomen - Qualification resultsMen - Main draw resultsWomen - Main draw results