The Dutch duos continue to perform successfully at the beach volleyball World Cup in Rome. Stefan Boermans and Matthew Immers followed the example of Ruben Penninga and Leon Luini on Monday and secured themselves as the fifth Dutch duo for the next round.
Boermans and Immers won the final game against Austrians Martin Ermacora and Moritz Bernd Pristauz-Telsnigg (21-18, 12-21 and 15-8) and finished third in their group.
Depending on the results in other groups, the Dutch duo must therefore either play in an intermediate round for a place in the last 32, or be the best number three automatically. Only the numbers one and two and the top four numbers three go straight to the last 32.
Luini and Penninga secured a place in the last 32 earlier in the day by winning the last group match. The pair beat the Italians Davide Benzi and Carlo Bonifazi (21-16 and 22-20).
Previously, the duos Christiaan Varenhorst/Steven van de Velde, Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen and Katja Stam/Raïsa already secured a place in the knockout phase. The duo Brouwen/Meeuwsen, which became world champion in 2013, did lose the last group match against Kusti Nolvak and Mart Tiisaar from Estonia.
The knockout phase of the World Cup starts on Wednesday. The tournament will be completed in the Foro Italico in Rome and will last until June 19.