A new beach volleyball season is here.
The starting shot went in Doha last Thursday and important world ranking points are at stake for the Olympics in Paris 2024 already now
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The 16 best teams in the world were invited to the Beach Pro Tour premiere in Qatar and the Swedish pair of Jonatan Hellvig and David Åhman showed right away that last year's smash hit was not a lucky coincidence.
Further as group two
They were beaten by the Norwegian world number one Anders Mol and Christian Sörum 2-1 in sets in the group stage, but advanced as group runners-up after defeating the Italian pair of Nicolai/Cottafava as well as the Czech EC bronze medalists Jan Dumek and Jiri Sedlak, in straight sets.
In the round of 16, Åhman and Hellvig beat the Brazilian pair George/Andre 2–1 in a set, and the quarter- and semi-final opposition was completed without the Swedish duo losing a set.
Lost the final
In the final, they got a chance for revenge against Mol and Sörum.
The Swedes got off to a good start and were able to take a 7–3 lead relatively immediately, but the Norwegian duo slowly caught up and before long they were over, 14–13.
The end of the first set was a shocker, but in the end the Norwegians were able to take it home with 21–19.
In the second set, things went a little worse for the Swedes.
The Norwegians took an early lead and then it was never really in danger, even though Åhman and Hellvig managed to catch up to just one ball deficit at 15–14.
But then the Norwegians tied the knot and were able to win 21–19.
- We know that we have to play so damn well to beat the Swedish boys.
They push us to our highest level every time we meet and I just want to say thank you for a good final, we look forward to many more interesting battles against them, says Anders Mol in Viaplay's broadcast from Doha.