Zoe Verge-Depre, Esmee Bobner clinch final women’s Olympics beach volleyball berth
Joana Mader, left, and Anouk Verge-Depre were left scrambling against the Canadians and out of Olympics contention/Volleyball World photo
It’s over.
At long last, after 17 months and nearly two dozen tournaments, the first and major leg of the Paris Olympic race is over, the last bid sealed up by Switzerland’s Zoe Verge-Depre and Esmee Bobner.
Their ticket was punched in an agonizing manner, watching from the sidelines as Tokyo bronze medalists Anouk Verge-Depre — the older sister of Zoe — and Joana Mader competed at the Ostrava Elite16, after Zoe and Bobner were eliminated in the qualifier by their very rivals. A winless performance in the main draw, when a semifinal berth was required, ended the run for Anouk and Mader, who fell in both matches on Friday, first to Barbora Hermannova and Marie-Sara Stochlova of the Czech Republic (21-19, 23-21) then to Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson (23-21, 21-15).
Esmee Bobner, left, and Zoe Verge-Depree during the Ostrava qualifier/Volleyball World photo
The remainder of the Olympic races were wrapped up during Wednesday’s qualifier.
Eighteen of the 24 spots per gender are now decided. Of the remaining six spots, five will be earned via continental cup events over the next few weeks, and France will award one wild card. Boding well for France is that its top women’s team, Lezana Placette and Alexia Richard, qualified via points, and will then get a second team into the Games via wild card. They are expected to announce their wild card teams June 17.
Below is a list of teams who have qualified for the Olympics
Men’s beach volleyball teams qualified for the Paris Olympics
World Championships berth: Ondrej Perusic, David Schweiner, CZECH REPUBLIC
- David Ahman, Jonatan Hellvig, SWEDENAnders Mol, Christian Sorum, NORWAYAndre Loyola, George Wanderley, BRAZILNils Ehlers, Clemens Wickler, GERMANYAndy Benesh, Miles Partain, USAEvandro Goncalves, Arthur Mariano, BRAZILMichal Bryl, Bartosz Losiak, POLANDStefan Boermans, Yorick de Groot, NETHERLANDSMatthew Immers, Steven van de Velde, NETHERLANDSSam Cottafava, Paolo Nicolai, ITALYCherif Samba, Ahmed Tijan, QATARChase Budinger, Miles Evans, USAAdrian Gavira, Pablo Herrera, SPAINAdrian Carambula, Alex Ranghieri, ITALYThomas Hodges, Zachery Schubert, AUSTRALIAJorge Alayo, Noslen Diaz, CUBAJulian Horl, Alex Horst, AUSTRIA
Women’s beach volleyball teams qualified for the Paris Olympics
World Championships berth: Kelly Cheng, Sara Hughes, USA
- Duda Lisboa, Ana Patricia Silva, BRAZILKristen Nuss, Taryn Kloth, USACarolina Salgado, Barbara Seixas, BRAZILRaisa Schoon, Katja Stam, NETHERLANDSNina Brunner, Tanja Huberli, SWITZERLANDMelissa Humana-Paredes, Brandie Wilkerson, CANADAXinyi Xia, Chen Xue, CHINATina Graudina, Anastasija Samoilova, LATVIAValentina Gottardi, Marta Menegatti, ITALYMariafe Artacho, Taliqua Clancy, AUSTRALIASvenja Muller, Cinja Tillman, GERMANYEsmee Bobner, Zoe Verge-Depre, SWITZERLANDDaniela Alvarez, Tania Moreno, SPAINLaura Ludwig, Louisa Lippmann, GERMANYLezana Placette, Alexia Richard, FRANCEMonika Paulikiene, Aine Raupelyte, LITHUANIALili Fernandez, Paula Soria, SPAIN
Miles Partain cuts a shot past Nils Ehlers/Volleyball World photo
Three USA teams remain in the Ostrava Elite16
With the Olympic race decided, what’s left is a normal tournament with normal stakes on the line — prize money, entry points, wins and all the rest.
Three USA teams remain in the hunt of the Ostrava Elite16. As they have been since Thursday, Andy Benesh and Miles Partain are the lone American men, putting together consecutive wins over Poland’s Piotr Kantor and Jakub Zdybek (21-14, 21-10) and Germany’s Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler (21-17, 26-24). Friday marked their first career win over Germany, who is coming off a silver medal at the Espinho Elite16 two weeks ago.
The remaining American teams, Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, and Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles, will play one another in the first round of the playoffs. The last meeting between the two teams actually came in Ostrava a year ago, during the final round of pool play, where Cheng and Hughes won easily, 21-13, 21-11. Saturday will mark the fifth matchup between the two, a series Hughes and Cheng lead 4-0.
