Saturday see re-match of the World Championship final in Hamburg

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Clemens and Alex celebrate their elimination round victory

Clemens Doppler and Alex Horst admitted they have not watched back their World Championship final defeat to Evandro Goncalves and Andre Loyola – and they will refuse to do so again after drawing the Brazilians in Saturday’s quarterfinals in Hamburg.

The Austrians secured their place in the last eight with a win over Brazilians Alvaro Filho and Saymon Barbosa in straight sets and now take on the team they lost to on home sand in the gold medal match two weeks ago.

“It still hurts every time I think about it so when the tv is on and the highlights come on I turn it off,” said Horst. “It’s interesting of course, but we’ll treat it as a normal game and see what happens.”

That heartbreaking defeat on the Red Bull Beach Arena also had the same affect for blocker Doppler – especially given the fact the Austrians held four set points in the first set of the final in Vienna.

“I haven’t watched it and I never will, especially at 20-16 – it hurts too much,” he said. “It’s a World Champs final rematch but without the pressure. We can play with fun and especially with another great audience, I’m looking forward to it.”

Both teams have already tasted defeat at the Rothenbaum – something that does not surprise Doppler.

“Every team is beatable,” he said. “We can play against a team who come through qualification and lose. We can beat anyone in the top 30. Everyone can win and lose, the level is so high.

“The important thing is how you play on the hour. Everyone practices so much and takes so much time preparing tactics – it’s really professional.”

The boys from Vienna were roared onto silver medal a fortnight ago and, with Austrian fans in Hamburg in numbers, Doppler says anything is possible.

“They are crazy, it’s so loud and there’s a lot of nice people supporting us,” he said. “My dad and nephew are here too, and they’re glad they have another match to watch.”

If you subscribe to BeachStream you’ll be able to catch the whole quarterfinal match live on Saturday. Click here to subscribe absolutely free.

The Austrian fans were once again out in force to back their heroes