The Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot defeated Qataris Cherif Samba and Ahmed Tijan 23-21, 19-21, 15-10 to surprise the field and win their first FIVB four-star gold medal in the pro beach tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland.
Boermans, a 6-foot-8, 26-year-old, and de Groot, a 6-3 21-year-old, were seeded 15th. They defeated Russia’s Nikita Liamin and Taras Myskiv 21-17, 21-15 in the semifinals. The medal is Boerman’s second, having won the Montpelier one-star in 2018 with Dirk Boehle. de Groot earned bronze in the 2019 one-star in Ljubljana, Slovenia with Mees Blom.
This year the pair’s previous best performances were fifth in the second and third Cancun Hub. The $10,000/player first place prize more than triples their previous best result.
Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy won bronze, defeating countrymen Liamin and Myskiv 21-16, 21-12. They lost to Samba and Tijan 21-17, 21-17 in Saturday’s semifinals.
Sunday’s women’s semifinals feature Brazil’s Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda Lisboa versus Canada’s Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes at 4 a.m. (all times Eastern). Latvia’s Anastasija Kravcenoka and Tina Graudina of USC fame follow at 5 when they play Brazil’s Ana Patricia Silva and Rebecca Cavalcanti.
In Saturday’s women’s quarterfinals, Bednarczuk and Lisboa spoiled the Swiss home crowd’s hopes by edging Nina Betschart and Tanja Huberli 21-18, 18-21, 15-13. Pavan and Humana-Paredes defeated Brazil’s Carolina Salgado and Barbara Seixas 25-23, 25-23. Kravcenoka and Graudina eliminated Poland’s Kinga Wojtasik and Katarzyna Kociolek 21-13, 21-13. Silva and Cavalcanti made the semifinals with a 21-18, 21-9 win over Canada’s Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson.
