Dutch Duos Delightful Day

Antalya, Turkey, May 12, 2016 – After eight weeks off from the FIVB World Tour, the Dutch tandems of Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen and Reinder Nummerdor/Christiaan Varenhorst have returned to international Beach Volleyball competition here Thursday with each team winning twice in the US$150,000 Antalya Open.

The last time the two teams participated on the international circuit was mid-March in Brazil (Vitoria) where Brouwer and Meeuwsen captured the bronze medal match March 20 over a team from Italy with Nummerdor and Varenhorst being eliminated a day earlier by the same team to place fifth.

Both teams are the top-two ranked pairs on the qualifying list for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, excluding Brazilians, and used their time off from the FIVB World Tour to prepare for the final two big “tests” on the international circuit before the end of the 14-month period that will place 15 pairs in the Copacabana quadrennial to be played August 6-18.

Seeded first in the Antalya Open, Nummerdor and Varenhorst posted Pool A wins Thursday over 32nd-seeded Devrim Alibaba/Kemal Sah of Turkey 2-0 (21-14, 21-12) in 27 minutes and 32nd-seeded Alexander Huber/Robin Seidl of Austria 2-1 (21-13, 19-21, 15-13) in 49 minutes.

Nummerdor and Varenhorst will close group play Friday with a match against 16th-seeded Martins Plavins/Haralds Regza Latvia in the first-ever international meeting between the two teams.  The winner of the match wins Pool A and earns a first-round “bye” when elimination bracket play starts later Friday.

The second-seeded Brouwer and Meeuwsen opened Pool B play with a 2-0 (21-14, 21-15) win in 29 minutes over 31st-seeded …

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