The final day of the Four-Star Katara Beach Volleyball Cup saw the order being restored as Grzegorz Fijalek and Michal Bryl eventually tasted the maiden FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour success as a team by beating Josue Gaxiola and Jose Rubio Four-Star Katara Beach Volleyball Cup gold medal match.

At the Katara Cultural Village’s Amphitheatre, the seventh-seeded Polish pair got the better of the Mexican duo 16-21, 21-19, 15-11 to emerge the champions. Fourth-seeded Italians Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai grabbed the bronze medal with a 21-19, 21-17 triumph over Brazil’s world champions Evandro Goncalves and Bruno Schmidt, the sixth seeds.

Bryl and Fijalek, after losing the opening set, fell behind the Mexican youngsters early in the second. However, Bryl and Fijalek combined their abilities to force the Mexican duo to make mistakes, before winning it and drawing level. In the tie-break, the Poles were in good flow and went on to clinch it and seal the victory after finishing fifth in the 2018 and fourth last year.

For Bryl and Fijalek, this was their second win over Gaxiola and Rubio, having beaten them in straight sets in a pool match in the Four-Star Chetumal last year.

Fijalek commented after the 63-minute final, “For us, it wasn’t the best game of this tournament, but we are very happy (to have won). We started very nervously, but we expected that as they are young boys and have great rhythm and played well this week.

“It is our first tournament win as a team and I hope we keep our shape in the next tournament,” added the Polish defender.

Bryl and Fijalek teamed up at the start of 2017 and since then they figured in six finals. They had four silvers in 2018, while one silver and two bronze medals in 2019. With this win, they cemented their fifth position in the FIVB Olympic Rankings for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel played in the 2012 London Games and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, but for Bryl, it may well be his first Olympic appearance.

“We didn’t know how the season will turn out. We enjoyed this tournament. It is the best feeling in the world to win a tournament,” said a smiling Bryl, who played once in Doha before alongwith Maciej Kosiak and twice with Kacper Kujawiak.

Gaxiola and Rubio, the former World Beach Volleyball Under-21 Championship runners-up, were playing a Tour event outsisde Mexico for a first time and this silver-medal finish would be quite special for the Mexican qualifiers.

“Poland are a very good team and very experienced. There is only one winner in a final, but we kept fighting to the end. It has gone well for our first World Tour outside Mexico. We are very pleased with how it all went here in Doha. Now we want to carry on in the next tournaments,” Rubio said.

The Mexicans enjoyed a stellar run in Doha. After they made it through pool play and the first two knockout rounds, they defeated reigning world champions Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Viacheslav Krasilnikov of Russia before going on to knock out Brazil’s Schmidt and Goncalves who have two World Championships and one Olympic gold between them.

“It was a very intense week,” Gaxiola said. “It has been a very tiring week, but we will continue to work and push on in our next tournaments.”

Lupo and Nicolai travelled to Doha from a training camp in Fort Lauderdale with Americans Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena and had shown some of their best beach volleyball until their defeat to Bryl and Fijalek in the semi-finals.

“Bruno and Evandro are among the best players in the world, but we played very well. So, I’m happy,” Lupo said.

Four years ago, Lupo and Nicolai won silver at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games and they have already qualified for Tokyo 2020 via the FIVB World Olympic Qualification Tournament.

Their bronze ends a barren run for the pair that stretched back to the 2018 Gstaad 5-Star where they finished third.

“It is great because it is a good start, a good first step. We are trying to grow our game and I think in this tournament we made a good step forward,” said Nicolai.

النتائج
Gold Medal
Michal Bryl / Grzegorz Fijalek (Poland, 7) def. Josue Gaxiola / Jose Rubio (Mexico, 28, Q8) 16-21, 21-19, 15-11 (1:03)

الميدالية البرونزية
Daniele Lupo / Paolo Nicolai (Italy, 4) def. Evandro Goncalves / Bruno Oscar Schmidt (Brazil, 6) 21-19, 21-17 (0:34)