For the first time in 20 years, the Beach Volleyball World Cup will be held in Latin America. In Mexico from October 6th to 15th it’s not just about medals, but also about a starting place at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Four German duos are there.
At the start in the arenas of Tlaxcala, Huamantla and Apizaco are Nils Ehlers/Clemens Wickler (Hamburg), Laura Ludwig/Louisa Lippmann (Hamburg), Svenja Müller/Cinja Tillmann, who train in Hamburg, and Sandra Ittlinger/Karla Borger (Stuttgart).
World champions have secured their Olympic ticket
A total of 48 teams for women and men are in the title race. The teams will be divided into twelve preliminary round groups. The respective group winners and runners-up as well as the best four third-placed teams are qualified for the knockout round. The eight remaining third-placed teams compete against four other participants in a “lucky loser round”.
In addition to the gold medal, the world champions for women and men have already secured the Olympic ticket for Paris.
Both German champion duos at the start
Ehlers/Wickler, the only German men’s team, is seeded sixth and is likely to be one of the favorites in its preliminary group. The German champions first meet the Chileans Noe Aravena/Vicente Orlando Droguett Torrealba (October 7th), then the Poles Piotr Kantor/Jakub Zdybek (October 8th) and finally the Americans Chaim Schalk/Tri Bourne (October 9th).
Müller/Tillmann, who also won the DM title a month ago and took bronze at the World Championships in Rome a year ago, will face the Americans Alexandra Klineman/Hailey Harward (October 7th) and the Chinese Jie Dong/Fan Wang (October 8th) and the Brazilians Tainá/Victoria (October 10th).
Ludwig/Lippmann with “conviction” for the World Cup
Ludwig/Lippmann, who have only been on the sand together since November, are starting with a lot of self-confidence after third place at the European Championships. “We extracted conviction and confirmation from the bronze medal,” said Ludwig. The HSV duo will play on October 6th. against Miki Ishii/Sayaka Mizoe (Japan), two days later against Tochukwu Nnoruga/Franco (Nigeria) and finally on October 10th. against Carol/Barbara (Brazil).
The preliminary round opponents of Ittlinger/Borger are the Brazilians Agatha/Rebecca (6/10), the Americans Sara Hughes/Kelly Cheng (8/10) and the Mexicans Albarran/Vidaurrazaga (10/10).
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Sports current | Oct 6, 2023 | 1:17 p.m
