No Portugal start

Pulled out of circulation on the way to Paris

Julian Hörl was stopped by a corona illness. This means that the man from Saalfeld and his partner Alex Horst will not be able to compete in Espinho. The duel for a ticket to the Olympics is hotter than ever.

The Elite16 tournaments in Espinho starting today, Wednesday, in Portugal and Ostrava (Tch), with the Challenger in Stare Jablonki (Pol) in between: It was clear to the beach volleyball duo Julian Hörl and Alex Horst that these three tournaments in the battle for an Olympic ticket were going to be a close call.

But on Tuesday morning, the two suddenly no longer appeared in the qualifying field for the Pro Tour event in Portugal. The reason: "I had corona," explains Hörl from Saalfelden, who was back at the training center in Vienna for the first time yesterday. "I exercised for half an hour and sweated a lot."

After the first symptoms appeared in the middle of last week, it was at its worst at the weekend. "The radius around the bed wasn't that big," Hörl described it, "but now things are looking up again." Of course, he hopes that the major after-effects won't occur and that everything will be back to normal for the tournament in Poland.

"I just want to play", there should be no more complications for the two beach boys in the hot qualifying final for Paris.

The Chileans (only on the waiting list in Espinho) have made further progress in their duel with the Grimalt-Cousins. The team competed in the South American championships - like a European championship, but with a smaller, lower-quality starting field - and won them.

 "They are now level on points with us, but we are still ahead because we have the better individual result," calculates Hörl. He also points out that at the Challenger in the Czech Republic, points are only added to the red-white-red points account if they reach the quarter-finals and at the Elite16 in Poland if they finish ninth (eighth place).

Cuba remains an unknown
 Normally, the Austrians or the Chileans end up with the last Olympic spot. Unless: "The Cubans Alayo/Diaz, who are ranked behind us, don't travel to Poland - then we and the Chileans will probably go."