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Dear Beach Volleyball Community


The ACTS Group is in the preparation progress for the next tournament in Vienna in 2022. For all beach news, all information about the A1 CEV EuroBeachVolley 2021 presented by Swatch and a preview to our next event click here:


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See you @ the beach!

2016-03-11 13:00:00 CET

Dreams Are Dashed

Teams start their journey home as knock-out rounds begin at Rio Grand Slam

Yesterday was all about bringing the fire and today, the third day of the Rio Grand Slam, is the day where tension fills the air as teams prepare for what could be their final matches.

Rio Grand Slam is the first big tournament of the year boasting a robust USD 800,000 in prize money. Champion teams have come together to get a piece of the action, a sum of the prize money and most importantly - Olympic qualifying points.

Austria’s Doppler/Horst go up against Italy’s Nicolai/Lupo who have already won two out of their three pool matches, their only loss being to current FIVB World Champions  Alison/Bruno Schmidt.  The Italian duo came in 5th at the World Tour Finals in Fort Lauderdale last year so the Austrians duo have their work cut out for them. This match will be the decider of which team will advance to challenge Switzerland’s Beeler/Strasser in Round 2.

Elize Maia’s blocking couldn’t save the game; Photo Credit: FIVB WebsiteElize Maia’s blocking couldn’t save the game; Photo Credit: FIVB Website

Another team advancing to Round 2 is Poland’s Olympic pair Fijalek/Prudel. After taking a break end of 2015, in preparation of 2016, the two are certainly back with a vengeance as they beat the Brazilian dream-team Ricardo/Emanuel as well as knocked-out Russia’s Liamin/Barsouk. This is Olympic gold-medalist Emanuel Rego’s final tournament as he retires from his professional sporting career.

The ladies’ Center Court has not been left out of the action. American team: Walsh/Ross advance to the Round 2 after a flawless victory – winning all three of their Pool group games. This is after the pair took a short break shortly after Walsh’s shoulder injury. The pair are racing toward their first Olympic Games together – (Walsh competed previously with old teammate (Misty Elizabeth May-Treanor) who has since retired from professional beach volleyball. This will be Walsh’s fifth consecutive year at the Olympics.

In other news, the Rio Grand Slam bids a sad goodbye to dream team: Eduarda “Duda” Lisboa and Elize Maia as they exit the tournament after losing all of their pool matches thus failing to advance to the next round. This is a shock for the current Maceio Open winners.

German ladies keep their foothold as three German teams advance to Round 2 of the Rio Grand Slam.

Good luck to the rest of the players.

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