Pļaviņš and Fokerots fall to Norway's champions in Montreal quarterfinal

Latvian beach volleyball players Mārtiņš Pļaviņš and Ernests Fokerots played their quarterfinal match in Montreal on Friday evening against Norway's Anders Mol and Christian Sørum, who hold titles as both 2024 European champions and five-time European champions in a different pairing. The match was held on a court built within the Formula 1 racetrack grounds, with the air temperature reaching 26 degrees Celsius.

In the first set, the Latvians fell behind 0:3 early on, but a block from Fokerots and a defensive play from Pļaviņš helped them close the gap. After several exchanges the two teams were tied at 12:12, but the Norwegians then pulled away to take the set 21:17.

In the second set, Mol and Sørum extended their lead, going up 15:9 and later 16:12, despite defensive efforts from Fokerots. The Norwegians closed out the set — and the match — 21:14.

With this loss, the head-to-head record between the two pairs now stands at 2 wins to 8 in Norway's favor, counting by sets it is 5-17. For finishing fifth in the tournament, Pļaviņš and Fokerots earn 760 ranking points along with an 8,000 US dollar prize.

Path to the quarterfinal

Before losing to the Norwegians, the Latvian duo recorded several wins in Montreal, including victories over Norway's Ringgen/Aas Wold, Argentina's Capogrosso/Capogrosso, and Austria's Waller/Pristauz. Earlier in the tournament they also suffered a loss to the higher-ranked Norwegian pair Mol/Berntsen.

Meanwhile, Latvia's other pair, Tīna Graudiņa and Anastasija Samoilova, also competed in Montreal, facing Canada's Wilkerson/Humana-Paredes in their quarterfinal. Both Latvian pairs had recently returned from the European Championship, where Graudiņa and Samoilova won bronze medals while Pļaviņš and Fokerots finished ninth.