In a thrilling finale to the pool stage of the women’s Olympic beach volleyball tournament, Latvia’s Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova defeated Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson 2-0 (21-14, 22-20). This victory secured the Latvians a spot in the eighth-finals, finishing second in Pool D with a 2-1 record. The Canadian pair, now third in the pool, will compete in the “lucky-loser” sixteenthfinals, falling just short of the top 16.
Earlier, Swiss duo Esmee Bobner and Zoe Verge-Depre, seeded 16th, clinched Pool D’s top position with a 2-1 (23-21, 18-21, 15-12) win over Paraguay’s Giuliana Poletti and Michelle Valiente. Bobner and Verge-Depre finished undefeated, eliminating the Paraguayan team.
In Pool F, seventh-seeded Tanja Huberli and Nina Brunner of Switzerland dominated with a 2-0 (21-11, 21-8) win over sixth-seeded French pair Lezana Placette and Alexia Richard, who now move to the “lucky-loser” round.
German team Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lippmann were ousted after losing all their matches, including a 2-0 (21-16, 21-19) defeat to 18th-seeded Spaniards Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno.
On Friday, Brazil’s Carol Solberg and Barbara Seixas edged out Dutch pair Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon 2-1 (16-21, 21-17, 19-17) to win Pool E. Meanwhile, the U.S. team of Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng topped Pool C with a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) victory over Germany’s Svenja Muller and Cinja Tillmann.
