Qatar Volleyball Association President Ali Ghanim Al Kuwari and officials pose for a photograph with the men's and women's podium winners of the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Doha Challenge at the Al Gharafa Beach Courts yesterday.
Doha: Polish pair Michal Bryl and Bartosz Losiak secured their second Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Doha Challenge title in spectacular fashion at the Al Gharafa Beach Courts yesterday.
The winners of the season-opening Tlaxcala Challenge back in March, Bryl and Losiak completed their perfect week of play in the Qatari capital with a two-set (21-18, 21-15) victory over Italians Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava to take the title.
Bryl and Losiak were never in danger during their campaign in Doha, winning all their six matches in three days in straight sets.
“Everything feels perfect right now,” Bryl, who won the first title of his international career in the city, back in 2020, when he and Grzegorz Fijalek triumphed in an FIVB World Tour event, said said after the conclusion of the tournament.
“Doha is the best place for me because it’s my second final here and my second victory. I think our blocking and defence were really good and maybe that was the difference in the final.”
After the teams exchanged points at the start of the gold medal match, the Poles took advantage of a good serving run from Losiak to build a 10-7 lead. Bryl and Losiak kept pushing and quickly were 17-12 ahead. They comfortably reached set point at 20-16, but allowed the Italians to score two in a row. A well-timed timeout break disrupted Nicolai’s serving rhythm and the Olympic medallist sent the ball into the net to give the Poles a 21-18 victory.
The Poles took an earlier lead in the second set and scored four of the first five points, but a couple of strong defensive plays from the Italians levelled the two sides at four points. A trickle ace by Bryl gave the Polish breathing room at 8-5 and they used their nearly flawless side out game to maintain the lead until the end, when Bryl blocked Nicolai to end the match 21-15.
Austrians Martin Ermacora and Moritz Pristauz completed the all-European podium with a straight-set win over Dutch Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot (21-17, 21-18).
Earlier, in the women’s final, Brazilians Barbara Seixas and Carol Salgado completely dominated their German rivals Chantal Laboureur and Sarah Schulz to a two-set (21-13, 21-13) victory in the gold medal match.
