Bronze Carracher and Nicolaidis Ready for Paris Elite 16

Fresh off a bronze medal at last weekend’s AVC Samila Open in Thailand, Mark Nicoladis and Izac Carracher have arrived in Paris for the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite 16 event, running 28 September – 2 October.

The duo are ranked third in the French qualification tournament, and will need to win two qualifying games on Wednesday to secure their spot in Thursday’s main draw.

The Paris Elite 16 event is the team’s first World Tour competition since taking a few months off following their massive international Summer season, which saw them place 9th at the 2022 World Championships in Rome.

It will be a hallmark Elite 16 event, with Centre Court matches set to be played on the world famous Roland-Garros tennis arena.

Carracher said last week’s AVC Samila Open was a great warm-up event ahead of their upcoming back-to-back international tournaments, before they join the Australian Beach Volleyball Tour in December.

“Samila was our first AVC event together, it was a great experience,” Carracher said.

“It was a great opportunity to throw ourselves back into competition mode, get a bunch of games under our belt and look to dial in the things we have been training over the last months back home in Australia, before the Paris Elite and a bunch of Challengers in October.

“Some of the Asian men’s teams haven’t had as many opportunities to compete because of COVID, so it was great to get to compete against the best from our region.

“We are happy with a podium result but always want a little more from ourselves. It was good to get back into competition as we head into a big international block over the next two months.”

The pair will first face Elazar/Ohana from Israel at 3pm local time (11pm AEST) on Wednesday 28 September in the knock-out format qualifier.

“Our top goal is to qualify for the main draw and to do that we will have to win two games,” Carracher said.

“You have to put everything into the first game in single elimination as there is no second chances.

“We would love to have everyone tune in and support on the livestream on Volleyball World TV.”

The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Paris Elite 16 event runs 28 September – 2 October. See the full schedule HERE and follow the action live on Volleyball World TV.