Strong Teams bid for 3-star Kish Open Gold Medal

Markus Bockermann and Lars Fluggen of Germany and last year’s bronze medalists Piotr Kantor and Bartosz Losiak of Poland got off to a strong start in the main draw of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour Kish Island 3STAR 2017, recording straight-set wins on Thursday.
Bockermann/Fluggen defeated Russia’s Ruslan Daianov/Yury Bogatov 2-0 (21-14, 21-10), while Kantor/Losiak beat Austria’s Daniel Mullner/Florian Schnetzer 2-0 (21-18, 21-17).

In other all-European match-ups, France’s Arnaud Loiseau/Arnaud Gauthier-Rat, Switzerland’s Gerson/Zandbergen, Belgium’s Dries Koekelkoren/Tom Van Walle and Germany’s Jonathan Erdmann/Armin Dollinger prevailed against their rivals to advance to the Round of 16.
Meanwhile, France’s Maxime Thiercy/Romain Di Giantommaso and Australia’s Cole Durant/Zachery Schubert eliminated Iran’s two remaining teams. The French pair defeated Aghamohammad Salagh/Abohamed Mirzaali 2-0, while the Australian duo trounced Rahman Raoufi/Bahman Selemi in the nail-biting tie-breaker.