Lausanne, Switzerland, November 29, 2016 – Robin Seidl and Tobias Winter are set to write new chapters in their careers after the Austrian pair teamed up for the start of the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
The 26-year-old Seidl used to play alongside Alexander Huber, with whom he played since 2009. Earlier this year they reached the last 16 of the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games having won their place at Copacabana by helping Austria to win the CEV Continental Cup Final.
Quick links - Beach volleyball:FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour 2016Rio 2016 Olympic Games - Beach VolleyballFIVB.com - Beach VolleyballFIVB.com
Latest VideosFacebookTwitterInstagramMedia GuidesThey also won silver at the 2016 Qatar Open and bronze at the 2013 Fuzhou Open.
“I was pretty confident he would say yes,” Seidl told
swatchmajorseries.com. “Together with the Austrian Beach Volleyball Federation we decided that Tobias was the best option and I knew I wanted to play with him.
“Xandi (Huber) and I had a lot of ups and downs during our time but we left on happy terms – we achieved our big goal in Rio that we set out to do four years ago. We felt after such an achievement at the Olympics that it was a perfect point to move on.
“Tobias is an ambitious and talented guy who plays beach volleyball with his heart. He has big potential. Playing with a player and a person like this is very important to me.”
Like Seidl and Huber, Winter played with Lorenz Petutschnig for the vast majority of his career. They played together for over six years and they won bronze at the inaugural FIVB U23 Beach Volleyball World Championships in 2013.
“It’s all happened very quickly – Robin only asked me about a month ago,” Winter said. “It was an important decision for me to make – it took me about two weeks because I had to take into consideration things with Lorenz.
“But sometimes in sport you have to make tough decisions but this is an exciting one. Robin is a top-10 Olympian and one of the best blockers in Austria at the moment. It’s a huge chance for me to get to know the FIVB World Tour and compete as a professional player and I just couldn’t let that chance slip.”
The 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is due to start with the Fort Lauderdale Major Series that will run from February 7-12. In total there are five Major Series events in Porec, Croatia, Gstaad, Switzerland and Hamburg.