It feels like it’s been a while hasn’t it? The summer Olympics were in August 2021 and that feels like the last time we saw a lot of competitive beach volleyball. If you have missed watching your favourite Canadian stars then you are in luck. The first tournament in the FIVB Pro Beach Tour is taking place this weekend.
The main draw will feature six pools with four teams each and the three-best ranked tandems at the conclusion of the modified pool play system advancing to the playoff, which will be played in single elimination format. The medal matches in both genders will take place on Sunday.
On the men’s side Ben Saxton and Grant O’Gorman have qualified in the main draw as a 12 seed.
Prior to the start of the main draw, the tournament features a qualification tournament where the other Canadian Teams will play. Brandie Wilkerson and Sophie Bukovic will see their first competition at 10am EST Wednesday since joining as partners and are ranked 9th .
Megan and Nicole McNamara are ranked 5th and will have their tournament begin at 1:20PM EST Wednesday.
Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredis are not playing in this tournament, but will be next weekend at the Rosarito Mexico Elite 16 tournament.
Dan Dearing and Sam Schachter must go also through the qualification and are ranked 18th with their first match at 5:30pm EST Wednesday.
The Challenge level tournament of the Beach Pro Tour is a feeder to the Elite16 level events including 24 teams, with players challenging and battling on the sand to gain ranking points.
The competition format has 24 teams per gender in the Main Draw with modified pool play followed by a single elimination tournament over four to five days of competition for a total of 80 matches for double gender events. Up to 32 teams can take part in qualifiers to advance to the Main Draw.
Teams per gender: 24
Qualification Tournament: Up to 32 teams
First phase: Six pools of four teams each; modified pool play