Josh Binstock and Sam Schachter won twice on the opening day of the inaugural Doha Open to maintain the form that earned them a maiden FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour title at the Parana Open three days ago.
The Canadian duo started with a 2-0 (21-17, 21-13) victory over Qatar’s Assam Mahmoud and Sultan Asif and then followed up with another 2-0 (21-13, 21-12) win, this time against Martin Olesen and Peter Dilling Kildegaard Andersen of Denmark.
“We weren’t sure what it would be like playing in the afternoon and evening, but there is a nice breeze,” Binstock said. “We arrived last night and are a little jet-lagged, but it is a good start to the tournament and hopefully we can keep it going.
“We’re feeling pretty good and we want to get as many matches as possible under our belts because we’ve only played six FIVB tournaments together and even though we’re not in our best form we want to see what we’re like when we’re not at our best.”
Binstock and Schachter teamed up midway through 2013 and after getting to know each other’s game they began to serve notice of their potential with a fourth place finish at the FIVB Sao Paolo Grand Slam and gold, silver and bronze medals on the NORCECA Continental Tour.
Previously the 33-year-old Binstock played at the London 2012 Olympic Games with Christian Reader, while the 24-year-old Schachter is one of the rising stars of the beach volleyball scene, having won gold at the 2010 FIVB U21 World Championships, alongside Garrett May.
In Parana they impressed in the final where they defeated Chilean cousins Marco and Esteban Grimalt 2-0 (21-14, 21-12). It also proved to be a prelude to a dash across the Atlantic Ocean to arrive in time for the Doha Open.
“We aren’t there yet, but we knew we wouldn’t be at the same level right away,” Binstock added. “We wanted to learn how to win even when we’re not at our best and as we move up the ranks find a way like the best teams do.
“Sao Paolo gave us the confidence that we could beat anyone in world and we went to Rio before both tournaments and when you’re surrounded by that level before a tournament it gives you that confidence. Now we feel we can beat anyone in the world if we play at our best.”
Aussies bounce back after opening loss
Australian pair Joshua Court and Damien Schumann picked themselves up after an opening loss to end the day with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) victory over Spain’s Christian Garcia and Francisco Alfredo Marco.
The pair needed three match points to win, but eventually sealed the victory with a Court block at the net.
“We haven’t played these guys before and it is our third main draw, so we were a little bit nervous,” Court said. “But we managed to get into it and I got the block timing right, which helps the little man at the back of the court.
“They’re clever, you go early and they will try and out-hang and push a shot over. If you leave a gap they’ll take it and that is what they did, but we managed to cover enough of the court and I got in the way and Damo got the digs to get over the top.”
The Australian pair made it into the main draw after winning their qualifying match yesterday. They then began with a loss to Greece’s Kotsilianos Georgios and Zoupani Nikos, the highest ranked side in the pool, which they responded to with a win over the Spanish duo.
It leaves them needing to beat USA’s William Montgomery and Jeremy Casebeer to ensure their place in the elimination rounds.
“We weren’t really tired from qualifiers, it was tight and we made one or two sideout errors at a crucial time and against a quality side like Greece if you make one or two errors at the wrong time, it is all over,” Schumann said.
“Depending on the other results, if Greece win the pool it all comes down to tomorrow. I think we have to beat the USA to get out of our pool.”
Doha is making its debut as a World Tour venue. Previously it hosted beach volleyball as part of the Doha 2006 Asian Games. The World Tour is made up of 10 Grand Slam tournaments and eight Opens. The next and final tournament on the 2014 World Tour is the Mangaung Open in South Africa that runs from December 9-14.