Rosarito, Mexico - Elite 16 - Beach Pro Tour 2022 - News

04_BPT Rosarito - Women Main Draw LATvsBRA

Anastasija Kravcenoka in action in Rosarito

Latvia’s top women’s pair Anastasija Kravcenoka and Tina Graudina had never won a medal on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, but snatched one at their very first appearance on the all-new Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour and immediately shot up into the top 10 of the FIVB World Ranking.

With the 1,100 points earned with their Rosarito Elite 16 silver over the weekend, Kravcenoka and Graudina improved to a new total of 3,220 to move from number 20 to number seven.

Dutch sensations Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon, who triumphed with the gold in Mexico, had less room to move up, but still went from third to second, now on 4,340 points, just 300 short of leaders Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda (Duda) Santos Lisboa, who are no longer competing together.

Rosarito bronze medallists Talita Antunes and Rebecca Cavalcanti of Brazil added 1,000 points to the 480 they had collected at their team’s debut in Itapema in November to climb from position 125 to 49.

New pairings, Betsi Flint and Kelly Claes of USA, who finished fourth in Rosarito, and Duda and Ana Patricia Ramos of Brazil, who reached the quarterfinals, stormed the charts straight into positions 80 and 94.

World champs Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes of Canada took advantage of their fifth-place finish in Rosarito to rise from fifth to fourth, leaving Brazil’s Barbara Seixas and Carol Solberg and Germany’s Karla Borger and Julia Sude behind, and getting within just 60 points of third-ranked Nina Brunner and Tanja Huberli of Switzerland.

The men’s number one team, Qatar’s Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan made sure they widened the gap between them and their rivals by topping the first men’s Elite 16 podium on the Beach Pro Tour. On a new total of 5,760 points, the Olympic bronze medallists are now 1,360 clear of Tokyo 2020 champs and previous World Ranking leaders Anders Mol and Christian Sorum. The Norwegian Vikings took the Rosarito bronze and made their way back to number two after they had fallen down to number six a week ago.

Another well-established pair, Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands progressed to the final in Baja California and upped their ranking from number five to number three, pushing compatriots Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot down to four from last week’s runner-up position.

After winning the Tlaxcala Challenge gold the previous weekend, and finishing fourth in Rosarito, the recently formed Polish duo of Michal Bryl and Bartosz Losiak have progressed to number 33, 41 positions up from a week ago.

All four men’s quarterfinalists at the Elite 16 tournament also moved up the chart, two of them within the top 10 of the ranking. Brazilians Andre Loyola Stein and George Wanderley rose from eight to five, and Czechs Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner – from nine to seven. Adrian Carambula and Enrico Rossi of Italy also joined the top 10, moving eight positions up from their previous number 18 spot, while Alison Cerutti and Gustavo (Guto) Carvalhaes of Brazil shot up 33 positions, from 67 to 34.