Perišić’s Poreč Major ends in defeat

2017-06-30 14:30:00 CEST

Perišić’s Poreč Major ends in defeat

No fairytale ending for Perišić in Poreč

Perišić and Dell'Orco lost all three of their matches in Pool A.

Ivan Perišić’s boyhood dream of playing in a professional beach volleyball tournament came to an end with another gallant defeat at the Poreč Major.

The 28-year-old Croatian soccer player wowed the crowds at the Red Bull Beach Arena on Thursday night but was unable to end his involvement in the competition with a victory on Friday.

Together with partner Niksa Dell’Orco, Perišić lost in his third and final pool play match in straight sets to Americans Jake Gibb and Taylor Crabb.

Just like in his previous two matches, the Croatian duo showed glimpses of quality against higher-class opposition.

After their exit from the competition, Dell’Orco said: “This was our first tournament together so we’ll see if we’ll play again. Ivan has to return to play soccer now!

“We’d like to thank everyone for this amazing experience, especially the audience.”

Victory for the American partnership ensured their passage to their first elimination round with Casey Patterson and Theo Brunner advancing automatically to the last 16 from Pool A following their win over Alvaro Filho and Saymon Barbosa.

Elsewhere, there was defeat for Brazilians and reigning Poreč Major champions Alison/Bruno. The duo lost in straight sets to European Championship Lupo/Nicolai.

You can watch all of Ivan’s matches from the Poreč Major on BeachStream and on this video below.