Poland’s Bryl and Fijalek win FIVB Katara Beach Volleyball Cup in Doha

The world number seven and fourth seeds in the Katara Beach Volleyball Cup, ranked as a four-star tournament on the World Tour, fought off the prospect of an upset from underdogs Gaxiola and Rubio, 96th in the world rankings.

A huge shock looked a distinct possibility after the first set which the Mexicans won 21-16, but the Polish duo fought back to win a tight second set 21-19 before winning the tiebreaker 15-11 to claim victory.

Bryl and Fijalek teamed up at the start of 2017 and since then they have won four silvers in 2018, and one silver and two bronze in 2019. They are currently fifth in the FIVB Olympic Rankings, meaning they are well on course for a place at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Fijalek appeared alongside Mariusz Prudel at London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016, but for Bryl it will be his first Olympic appearance.

In the bronze medal match, Italy’s Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo beat the Brazilian pair of second seeds, Evandro and Bruno Schmidt with victory in straight sets 21-19, 21-17.
The Italian duo travelled to Doha from a training camp in Fort Lauderdale and had shown some of their best beach volleyball until their defeat to Bryl and Fijalek in the semi-finals. The latter pairing took the first set by a thrilling score of 28-26 before making it a straight set success by a score of 21-18, knocking the Italians out at the penultimate stage.

Gaxiola and Rubio defeated Evandro and Schmidt in the other semi-final thanks to two tiebreakers both by a score of 22-20.

The quarter-finals had seen Evandro and Schmidt make short work of Americans Nicholas Lucena and Philip Dalhausser in a 21-10, 21-12 win, but the big surprise came when Gaxiola and Rubio shocked top seeds, Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Oleg Stoyanovskiy in straight sets 21-17, 21-15.

Nicolai and Lupo defeated Americans Jacob Gibb and Taylor Crabb 21-15, 21-18, whilst Fijalek and Bryl also won in straight sets 21-13, 21-14 over Germany’s Nils Ehlers and Lars Flüggen.