Four beach volleyball teams are heading to Tokyo through the Olympic Qualification Tournament in Haiyang, China. It was double delight for Latvia as they got a men’s and women’s team qualified out of the difficult field. The Italian men and Spanish women are also making their travel arrangements for Japan next summer.

Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs (Latvia), Daniele Lupo & Paolo Nicolai (Italy), Elsa Baquerizo & Liliana Fernandez (Spain) and Tina Graudina & Anestasija Kravcenoka (Latvia) are the big winners. Technically, they only earned a place for their countries in the 2020 Olympic games, but there is no doubt that these eight will be marching in the opening ceremony next summer.

Edgars Tocs jumps into his first Olympic games after a successful run through the Olympic qualification tournament in Haiyang, China. Photo by FIVB.

The men’s qualifiers already own some Olympic hardware. Martins Plavins won a bronze medal in 2012 with a different partner, Janis Smedins. Nicolai and Lupo were silver medalists in Rio. The women who qualified in Haiyang haven’t won medals, but Liliana and Elsa will be returning to the Olympics for the third time. They look to improve on two 9th place finishes in 2012 and 2016. Tina and Anestasija will be making their Olympic debut and will be the first ever female beach volleyball Olympians for Latvia. Liliana and Elsa are still the only Spanish women to play beach volleyball for Spain, so the winners in Haiyang are pioneers for the women in their countries.

Making their (Olympic) Dreams Come True

Graudina and Kravcenoka have enjoyed a dream finish to what started as a difficult summer. A long stretch of 17th and 25th place finishes put them into the qualifiers in most 4-star events. They battled hard to earn a couple of 9th place finishes and found themselves on the fringes of Olympic qualification but without any wins against the world’s top teams. Then came the European Championships where they went on an amazing seven win run to lift the trophy. In the semifinals, they knocked out Liliana and Elsa of Spain.

Fast forward to China last weekend. It appeared they were going to make an early exit. To succeed in Haiyang, they would have to win against some of the best. They opened the tournament by dropping their first two sets against one of the world’s most recognizable teams, Switzerland’s Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre. That meant they faced an immediate elimination match against Canadians Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson. Last April the Canadians were ranked number one in the world and represented a huge challenge for the young Latvians. Tina and Anestasija persevered and won a difficult three-setter 16-14 in the final set. They were literally one point away from elimination in the first stage. That is the nature of beach volleyball. The margins are so slim that early elimination and medals can be decided on one play.

In the next pool of the tournament’s unique format, they got past strong Dutch pair Sanne Keizer and Madelein Meppelink before dropping a marathon three-setter to China’s Fan Wang and Xinyi Xia (26-24). They escaped that pool only to open the third phase with a loss to Italians Marta Menegatti and Viktoria Orsi Toth. Two big victories later and with the help of a tie breaking rules, they advanced to the decisive match with Olympic qualification on the line.

Tina Graudina rolls a shot over Barbara Hermanova’s block in the decisive match that sent Latvia into the Olympic field. Photo by FIVB.

The battle was against Barbora Hermannova and Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic. The Czech were entered into the Hamburg World Championships as the number one seed, but had to withdraw through injury. All of the disappointments that they have faced this summer would have been washed away with a victory in China. It appeared they were going to achieve it as they were in control of the decisive third set before Graudina and Kravcenoka took control. Several aces and big blocks in the windy conditions swung the match that seemed out of reach from the Czechs to the Latvians in a nail biting 17-15 battle. Once again Tina and Anestasija escaped, this time with the greatest prize, a trip to Tokyo.

Third Time’s the Charm?

Liliana and Elsa will be hoping that their third time to the Olympics yields some medals. Like the Latvians, they were also involved in a three-set elimination match in the first round. In their case, they had to get by Japan’s Miki Ishii and Megumi Murakami. After dropping the first set, they had a real scare and had to go into added points before eking out a second set win 23-21. Once again, a single point that fell the other way would have sent them home and kept them out of Tokyo. In their final match, they battled Sandra Ittlinger and Chantal Laboureur of Germany in a match that took three sets and nearly an hour to decide. They had lost to the Germans earlier in the second round, so Chantal and Sandra must have liked their chances. But when a trip to a third Olympics was on the line, there was no stopping the Spanish women.

Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernandez celebrate their victory in the Olympic Qualification tournaemtn. They are heading to their third Olympics next summer in Tokyo. Photo by FIVB.

Making Something Out of Nothing

Latvia’s Martins Plavins and Edgars Tocs were unable to do anything against Ilya Leshukov and Konstantin Semenov through one and a half sets in the final. The combination of Semenov’s serving and blocking and the windy conditions force the usually unflappable Plavins into error after error. Semenov dominated everything and when Latvia got it past him, Leshokov was there to gobble up their chips. The Russian’s let a few key points slip at the end of the second set however and Latvia managed to sneak into a third set. In the third set, Plavins relied on his experience and eliminated the errors. The Russians suddenly crumbled under the pressure. Tocs is going to the Olympics for the first time through this victory. The win came down to mental toughness as much as volleyball skill. It is that toughness that will be needed in the pressure of Tokyo 2020, so look out for Latvia to make a medal run next summer.

Konstantin Semenov stuffs Marins Plavins for what seemed like the 1000th time in the final. Plavins and Tocs managed to solve the big Russian’s dominate blocking and booked a spot in Tokyo. Photo by FIVB.

Italian Domination

Few teams on the world tour have been together as long as Nicolai and Lupo, but one team that has is Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands. These two teams had met 14 times in the past and had a 7 – 7 match record. This time it was Lupo who set the tone with an unbelievable side out game including an emphatic smash down the line early in the first set. Then Nicolai took over with dominating blocks again and again. The Netherlands didn’t back down though and the traded blows throughout the second set which finally ended 21-19. That gives the Italians an 8-7 edge in their all time match ups and more importantly a spot in the Olympics. Brouwer and Meeuwsen won Bronze in Rio’s Olympics and are well positioned to qualify for Tokyo through the rankings. They’ll be looking to even the score take their revenge in Tokyo.

Daniele Lupo did goes back to his line from the middle of the court past the block of Robert Meewusen. The Italian played a nearly error free match and will be returning to the Olympics next summer. Photo by FIVB.

Good News for Everyone

All four teams that qualified through this tournament were already in the top 15 of the Olympic Rankings. Now that they are in through pathway number 2, they no longer need to qualify through pathway number 3. That means everyone that was behind them in the rankings suddenly jumps a spot or two.

See who’s in and who’s out on the men ‘sand women’s Olympic Status pages

On the men’s side, Chilean cousins Marco and Esteban Grimalt moved into an Olympic spot. They played in Haiyang and crashed out in the second round, but still move into 14th place. American’s Nick Lucena and Phil Dalhausser didn’t bother playing in China but they also jumped into 15th place. They have only played in 10 events so far, so expect them to climb much higher. Switzerland’s Heidrich and Gerson played very well last week, but narrowly missed a chance at playing in the final. They are also well positioned to take make a jump into the Olympics when the world tour resumes.

The Czech women have something to celebrate despite their disappointment with the way things finished in China. Hermannova and Slukova are currently in the top 15 and on track for the Olympic games. Photo by FIVB.

For the women, the disappointed Hermannova and Slukova also moved into the top 15. The official rankings will tell you they are in 22nd place, but if you remove the three teams that have qualified and all of the American and Brazilian teams that can’t go because of country quota limitations, they are in. Russians Svetlana Kholomina and Nadezda Makroguzova share the final spot with them.