Doha, Qatar, April 8, 2016 – Adrian Carambula and Alex Ranghieri won their first FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour gold of the year when they beat Alexander Huber and Robin Seidl in the Qatar Open final at Al Gharafa Sports Club on Friday.
Victory meant the Italian duo won a second gold in five tournaments by beating the Austrians 2-0 (21-17, 21-19) six months on from their most recent gold at the Antalya Open in October 2015.
“We were just having fun,” Ranghieri said. “It was hard and we had some hard moments that we had to resolve, but we just did our best in every single game and we’re really happy.”
Carambula and Ranghieri took a short while to find their rhythm, but once they hit their stride they took control of the match.
Carambula was full of energy at the back of the court and caused a number of problems with his serve, while Ranghieri dominated the net and won the match with a trademark block.
“This is a huge victory for us, I think it puts us right in with a chance of the Olympics,” Carambula added. “We’ll be going to China (Fuzhou Open) and then back to Rome to prepare for the Grand Slam in Moscow.”
For Huber and Seidl the match was their first ever World Tour final and their first World Tour medal since they won bronze at the 2013 Fuzhou Open.
“Our first final and our first silver medal,” Seidl said. “It is nice and good, but after the match you are not satisfied if you lose. We enjoyed playing here and we came really came close.”
Poles claim third medal of 2016
Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak won bronze to continue their impressive start to 2016, despite not playing a point of the bronze medal match after their opponents and defending gold medallists Markus Bockermann and Lars Fluggen of Germany were forced to withdraw through injury.
This year the Poles have already won their first World Tour gold, at the Rio de Janeiro Grand Slam and bronze at the Kish Island.
“It is a medal and for us it is a big tournament,” Losiak said. “This is our third medal of the year and means we have had a very good start to 2016. I hope this isn’t our last medal of the year.”
The Qatar Open was the second and last tournament for men only on the 2016 portion of the 2015-2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. It was the third straight year that Qatar has hosted a FIVB World Tour event in Doha and it ran from April 4-8 when the medal matches take place.
The event continues the Road to Rio that lasts until June 13, 2016 with FIVB World Tour events counting towards the Olympic Ranking in order to determine 15 of 24 spots for each gender that will take part in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The next World Tour tournament is the Xiamen Open in China, which takes place from April 12-17.