Knokke-Heist, August 17, 2019 –Andrea Galindo and Claudia Galindo will face top seeds Emi van Driel and Raïsa Schoon in the Knokke-Heist 1-Star semifinals on Sunday and in doing so try to stop them from winning a third FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour gold medal in 2019.
On Saturday the Colombians beat Belgium’s Sarah Cools and Lisa Van Den Vonder 2-1 (21-17, 18-21, 15-13) in the quarterfinals. It means they take on the Dutch duo who defeated Israel’s Sofia Starikov and Anita Dave 2-0 (21-10, 21-14).
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The Galindo sisters are chasing their first World Tour medal. The closest they came was in April at the Satun 1-Star when they finished fourth. Van Driel and Schoon topped the podium at the Gothenburg and Alba Adriatica 1-Star tournaments, and last week they won bronze at the Budapest 1-Star.
The seaside resort close to the Dutch border is hosting a World Tour tournament for the first time and it is taking place at the Evenementenstrand event beach from August 15-18. The winning teams in Knokke-Heist will collect the €1,000 first-place prizes and claim 200 Tokyo 2020 Olympic points.
The host nation retains hopes of one of its teams winning a medal. Els Vandesteene and Maud Catry will aim to mark their first World Tour tournament with a podium finish, but first they must overcome Cecilie Køllner Olsen and Sofia Nørager Bisgaard of Denmark in the semifinals.
In the quarterfinals Vandesteene and Catry beat the Netherlands’ Emma Piersma and Pleun Ypma 2-1 (21-18, 14-21, 15-12). Olsen and Bisgaard stay on course for their first podium place after enjoying a 2-0 (21-12, 21-15) victory over Paraguay’s Patricia Carolina Caballero Peña and Michelle Sharon Valiente Amarilla.
