This is where things really started happening. Lots of important games in one day. But first of all, brekkie, and a little walkaround in central Adelaide before the first game we wanted to watch.
First important game up France (Rotar/Gauthier-Rat) vs Qatar (Cherif/Ahmed). I’ve been so excited to watch these guys play in person for a long time. They did not disappoint. Well, except that I only got to see that one game… They unfortunately lost a very tight three set game where third went to 23-21. I would have loved to get a picture of them off court, but I would only guess that they were so disappointed after that game and I didn’t get a chance. I was talking to a Swedish girl who was volunteering at the event and she said that they were both such lovely people. Ahmed for example was walking around the full court before the game, shaking everyone’s hands. Not only refs, but the guys handing wiped off balls to the players between each point. That made me very happy.
Second important game of the day was Norway (Mol/Sørum) vs Germany (Ehlers/Wickler). Germany is definitely a strong team and I really enjoy watching them play. Ehlers is so tall off screen! They are all obviously very tall, but he more so. But I never saw them as a real threat to any of my favorite teams. Åhman/Hellvig have beaten them 13 out of 14 matches between them for example. So to see Norway, getting defeated in the Round of 16, against Germany, broke my heart. I was obviously hoping for a Swedish final as soon as that was confirmed after pool play, but Norway should have been third.
In the evening, when we were watching Norway’s Mol/Berntsen, Mol/Sørum were actually seated two rows behind us cheering the brother and cousin on. To no avail unfortunately as they also lost…
Next up: Cuba (Diaz/Alayo) vs USA (Schalk/Shaw). This game, I unfortunately didn’t get to watch in full. The stands were full, so I got a standing position at the end of the court initially, got slightly interrupted, and then squeezed my way up into the stands. My interruptions were by the young Swedish team just about to start warming up on the next court as they were playing next. I managed to sneak up to them and kindly ask for a picture before they got into it.
Cuba put up a really good fight against USA. But unfortunately lost in two tight sets. What’s going on? Three of my five favorite team were out in Round of 16 already? Not good. Not good.
About now, it started getting a bit nervous for me. It was The Icemen’s turn on Court 2. Sweden (Hölting Nilsson/Andersson) vs Brazil (Andre/Renato). Mikael and I managed to get seats next to the other Swedes, which turned out to be friends of David Åhman, Elmer’s mom and grandma, as well as Rasmus’ brother and mom (and not present for this game, Rasmus’ partner and baby). The strong Swedish cheerleading squad!
This is where I stopped taking too many pictures and focused on the games, because it was getting too exciting. But we had pretty good seats!
The reason why this game was a bit nervous, was because Åhman/Hellvig lost against these two Brazilians in their pool play 2-0.
But there was nothing to worry about here at all. Jacob and Elmer took 2 straight sets, 21-16, 21-24. Maybe it was the unusual cold that was an advantage to The Icemen? One Swedish team off to the Quarter Finals 🥳
Last important game of the night, at 21:20, Sweden (Åhman/Hellvig) vs France (Bassereau/Aye, C.). With Åhman being injured the past few months, haven’t trained at all, it did look a bit shaky in pool play. They barely made it out. But to be honest, good thing they did lose 2 games in the pool, because that meant that both Swedish team, with Jacob/Elmer losing one pool game, they ended up on each side of the bracket. Meaning that there was a potential for a Swedish final. And looking at the Olympics last year in Paris, they played better and better in each game. So far so true. They played super confidently and beat France easily 2-0. Even with the France cheerleading squad infiltrating us calm Swedes. They were really obnoxious and jumping with their flags in front of us, taking off their shirts and being extremely loud. Good thing that didn’t help. Two Swedish teams off to the Quarter Finals!!
Our very visible Swedish bucket hats which have been lighting up the stands on TV, making us super visible to anyone who has been watching, have been signed by all four players, and both coaches. There are so many from back home who have texted me with screenshots and that they saw me. Hilarious. I wonder how many people around the world have seen us cheer for Sweden on every single game since Round of 32?
Bemm 