2017-08-23 13:08:00 CET
Alvaro lands in the nick of time
Brazilian finally flies in…but first game ends in defeat
Alvaro rises highest against the Poles but his efforts were in vain as Kantor/Losiak won in straight sets
Fort Lauderdale Major champion Alvaro Filho explained his nightmare journey to get to Hamburg after he and partner Saymon Barbosa lost their opening match of the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals presented by Vodafone to Poland’s Bartosz Losiak and Piotr Kantor.
Alvaro explained that there were problems with not one but two of his flights to Europe, meaning the defender only arrived late on Tuesday night and was unable to practise with his teammate Saymon until first thing on Wednesday morning just hours before their clash with the Poles.
“The first plane the pilot said he could not continue the journey to Frankfurt and that we would have to come back,” said the 26-year-old. “We almost reached the Atlantic but the pilot explained we could not without one of the turbines. It was kind of tense and nervous.
“Then, the other day, I tried to get another flight and there was a problem with the crew. The crew had to change and there was a three-hour delay. I was afraid that I wouldn’t not be here on time for this is very important tournament.”
Despite having been denied a proper training session to adjust to the conditions, Alvaro refused to blame his late arrival for the straight sets defeat to the Polish pair.
“I can’t say it affected me because the Polish played very well,” he said. “For sure I’m a little jetlagged – I just wanted to be here a little earlier to get over that, recover, feel better and then get used to the courts and the weather conditions.
“However, I’m happy to be here. We didn’t get time to practise until this morning but we still have one more game to make it better.”
Indeed, the Brazilians are in action on the Red Bull Beach Arena court against Germany’s Armin Dollinger and Jonathan Erdmann at 8pm CET – a game you can watch live on BeachStream.
Kantor/Losiak were in no mood to allow the Brazilians an easy game on the opening day of the #HamburgFinals
