Malbork, Poland, August 1, 2019 – Manuel Alfieri and Mauro Sacripanti reached their first FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour main draw when they made it through the Malbork 1-Star qualifiers on Thursday.
The Italian pair, both 21, have previously played on the Italian Tour and in CEV European age-group tournaments, but they defeated the Czech Republic’s Jakub Gala and Martin Sramek 2-1 (21-13, 14-21, 20-18) to enter pool play that starts on Friday.
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It is the first time that Malbork in Poland’s north east is hosting a World Tour tournament and it is taking place in a 650-year-old castle. The winning team in Malbork will collect the €1,000 first-place prizes and claim 200 Tokyo 2020 Olympic points.
Four teams reached the main draw along with Alfieri and Sacripanti. Michal Kadziola and Marcin Ociepski ensured another Polish team would be in the main draw after they won 2-0 (21-9, 21-15) over Norway’s Hans Erik Dybfest and Ruben Lovli.
Lithuania’s Patrikas Stankevicius and Audrius Knasas beat England’s Bello brothers, Javier and Joaquin, 2-0 (21-15, 21-16), while the Czech Republic’s Jindrich Weiss and Martin Tichy saw off Arwin Kopschar and Paul Pascariuc of Austria with a 2-0 (21-10, 21-17) victory.
