Russian pairs are only two Sochi men’s pool winners to advance

Sochi, Russia, May 6, 2016 – Friday was not a day for the men’s teams that won their pool here Thursday at the US$150,000 Sochi Open as six of the eight group titlists failed to win a match during the opening elimination rounds on the four Beach Volleyball courts at Sport Inn in this Black Sea coastal resort setting.

The only two pool winners to survive were eighth-seeded Konstantin Semenov/Viacheslav Krasilnikov of Russia (Pool H) and 27th-seeded qualifiers Yaroslav Koshkarev/Ruslan Bykanov (Pool F) as the eight pool winners from Thursday earned “byes” to the second-round of Friday’s elimination bracket.  The second- and third-place finishers from each group made up the first-round pairings and those winners advanced to the afternoon and early evening matches.

Semenov and Krasilnikov rallied from a first-set defeat to oust sixth-seeded Bartosz Losiak and Piotr Kantor of Poland 2-0 (23-21, 21-18) in 39 minutes.  The Poles were the No. 1 team on the 2015-2016 FIVB World Tour ranking lists, but relinquished the top spot after losing to Semenov and Krasilnikov for the second-time on the international circuit.  Losiak and Kantor opened play Friday with a 2-0 (21-15, 21-17) win in 41 minutes over the 15th-seeded Ingrosso twins (Matteo and Paolo) of Italy.

In Friday’s last match on the Sport Inn center court with spirited Russian fans, Koshkarev and Bykanov rallied from a first-set setback to oust 20th-seeded Grant O’Gorman and Sam Pedlow of Canada 2-1 (15-21, 21-15, 16-14) in xxx minutes.  Koshkarev and Bykanov, who are playing together for the first-time since the 2013 season, are guaranteed a fifth-place finish in Sochi for their best placement together in four FIVB events.

Playing on the same side of the elimination bracket, Semenov/Krasilnikov will play 11th-seeded Josh Binstock and Sam Schachter of Canada in an opening match Saturday while …

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