FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported Netherlands claim another Elite16 medal

• Van de Velde & Immers earn Brasilia Elite16 silver with support from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment coach Michiel van der Kuip

  
  

• Home teams Evandro & Guto and George & Andre take men’s gold and bronze in Brazil

  
  

• Duda & Ana Patricia, Kloth & Nuss and Esmee & Zoe line up on the women’s podium

  
  

Just two weeks after Katja Stam & Raisa Schoon earned a women’s Beach Pro Tour Elite16 silver in Tepic, Mexico, another pair from FIVB Volleyball Empowerment supported Netherlands, Steven van de Velde & Matthew Immers (pictured in the main photo), claimed the men’s silver at last week’s Elite16 stop in Brasilia. Home favourites Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano and Andre Stein & George Wanderley pleased the Brazilian fans with the gold and the bronze, respectively.

Another Brazilian pair, the world’s number one team Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) & Ana Patricia Ramos, topped the women’s podium, joined by Taryn Kloth & Kristen Nuss of the USA with silver and Esmee Bobner & Zoe Verge-Depre of Switzerland with bronze.

The Nederlandse Volleybalbond has so far been allocated a total of CHF 437,000 from the FIVB Volleyball Empowerment programme, of which CHF 144,000 was allocated to national beach volleyball teams coach support.

The Brasilia Elite16 2024 men’s podium

Trained by 54-year-old Dutch coach Michiel van der Kuip, a 1995 European champion as a player, Van de Velde & Immers, who have been playing together on the Beach Pro Tour for a little over a year now, earned their first Elite16 medal. The only previous Tour medal in the duo’s collection so far was a November 2023 Chiang Mai Challenge gold.

Seeded seventh in Brasilia, they cruised to the final on a five-match winning streak, highlighted by a 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) quarter-final win over sixth-seeded compatriots Alexander Brouwer & Robert Meeuwsen. This victory was also crucial for the pair in the context of the domestic race of three Dutch teams, who are all vying for two available tickets to this year’s Olympic Games in Paris. The silver-medal winning pair also secured a 2-1 (21-17, 18-21, 15-11) semi-final win over third-seeded Clemens Wickler & Nils Ehlers on their way to the final.

The only match Van de Velde & Immers lost in Brasilia was the gold medal match. Fourth-seeded Evandro & Guto capitalised on the home-sand advantage to manage a hard-fought 2-1 (17-21, 23-21, 15-9) comeback and celebrate their team’s second Elite16 gold. They earned the first one in March, also in Brazil, at the Recife Elite16. Overall, the Brasilia podium was their fifth on the Beach Pro Tour since the duo teamed up for the start of the 2023 season. Evandro & Guto’s victory over Van de Velde & Immers crowned their perfect run of six wins in six matches. Before that, in the semi-finals, they achieved a 2-1 (21-19, 17-21, 15-12) victory over 10th-seeded compatriots George & Andre.

The latter made sure the home country had another pair on the men’s podium with a 2-1 (17-21, 21-17, 15-12) turnaround against Ehlers & Wickler in the third-place match. The Brasilia bronze was George & Andre’s 10th Beach Pro Tour medal.

The Brasilia Elite16 2024 women’s podium

In the women’s tournament, Duda & Ana Patricia lived up to their top seeding and won all six of their matches in Brasilia. This expanded their already impressive Beach Pro Tour showcase to eight gold, two silver and five bronze medals. After knocking out reigning world champions Sara Hughes & Kelly Cheng of the USA in the quarter-finals, Duda & Ana Patricia produced a 2-1 (16-21, 21-10, 15-10) comeback in their semi-final against sixth-seeded Stam & Schoon and followed up with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-14) sweep of the final against third-seeded Nuss & Kloth.

For the pair from the USA, the Brasilia silver was the ninth Beach Pro Tour medal. Nuss & Kloth’s collection now features five golds, three silvers and one bronze. In their semi-final, they mounted a comeback from a set down against Esmee & Zoe to celebrate a 2-1 (16-21, 21-19, 15-12) win.

Esmee & Zoe bounced back in the third-place match with a 2-1 (21-15, 13-21, 15-9) victory over Stam & Schoon. The Swiss pair started their Brasilia campaign as the third-seeded team in Wednesday’s qualifier bracket and moved on as the 14th seed in the main draw to make it all the way to the podium, the team’s first at the Elite16 level.

28 men’s and 28 women’s teams representing a total of 20 different countries took part in the Brasilia Elite16. The next Elite16 stop on the Beach Pro Tour is in Espinho, Portugal from 22 to 26 May.

Brasilia Elite16: results and standings