2016-08-29 12:31:00 CET
Meet the men’s teams bound for Toronto
With the Long Beach Grand Slam complete and the regular season over, we now know the eight men’s teams guaranteed their place at the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals in Toronto!
So, ladies and gentlemen, please be upstanding for the teams who will definitely be competing in Canada for beach volleyball’s greatest prize having finished in the top eight of the FIVB World Tour ranking.
Heading the list after a stunning season of success are Latvia’s Samoilovs/Smedins – gold medal winners at the A1 Major Klagenfurt. Lucena/Dalhausser come next and the Americans are joined by countrymen Hyden/Bourne. Gibb/Patterson, who finished eighth in the ranking, won’t be there, however, as only two teams per nation are allowed to compete. Hard luck, guys.
That meant the team ninth in the pecking order, Fijalek/Prudel, rose into a qualification place and they join fellow Poles Losiak/Kantor in the draw for Toronto.
Consistent crowd favorites Ranghieri/Carambula from Italy are also on the plane to Canada, as are Mexicans Virgen/Ontiveros.
And what would a tournament be without a team from Brazil? Long Beach champions and Gstaad Major gold medalists Pedro Solberg/Evandro have also made it as a result of their triumph at last week’s Grand Slam. Remember the boys won bronze at last year’s event in Fort Lauderdale.
So that’s eight teams confirmed for Canada…but that means we still have four spaces left to fill! Who have we forgotten? What about Olympic and World Champions Alison/Bruno? And will there be any teams from the host nation competing?
Keep your eyes peeled on our website to find out more and what about the women too…? Watch this space!
Or click here, to know who got the wildcards for the #TorontoFinals!
We discover which teams served, spiked and sided-out the best…
Sometimes there are more important things in life than beach volleyball