Lausanne, Switzerland, August 20, 2019 - The teams participating in next month's FIVB Tokyo Beach Volleyball Qualification tournament in China have been confirmed as 32 pairs from 20 countries will be competing in the five-day event.
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With entry determined by a country's position on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking on July 16, the FIVB Tokyo Beach Volleyball Qualification tournament will be played September 18-22 in Haiyang, China.
With a maximum of one team per NF with China securing berths due to its host country role, the 16 teams per gender will be seeking two quota places for their NOC/NF at the beach volleyball tournament of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Here is a list of participating teams in the FIVB Tokyo Beach Volleyball Qualification tournament. (Boldface indicates past Olympic experience).
MenRobin
Seidl/Philipp Waller, Austria
Andre Loyola/George Wanderley, Brazil
Sam Pedlow/Sam
Schachter, Canada
Esteban
Grimalt/Marco
Grimalt, Chile
Peng Gao/Yang Li, China
Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner, Czech Republic
Julius Thole/Clemens Wickler, Germany
Daniele
Lupo/Paolo
Nicolai, Italy
Martins
Plavins/Edgars Tocs, Latvia
Alexander
Brouwer/Robert
Meeuwsen, Netherlands
Mathias Berntsen/Hendrik Mol, Norway
Michal Bryl/Bartosz
Losiak, Poland
Cherif
Samba/Ahmed Tijan, Qatar
Ilya Leshukov/Konstantin
Semenov, Russia
Adrian
Gavira/Pablo
Herrera, Spain
Mirco Gerson/Adrian Heidrich, Switzerland
WomenMariafe
Artacho/Taliqua
Clancy, Australia
Lena Plesiutschnig/Katharina Schutzenhofer, Austria
Carol Horta/Angela Lavalle, Brazil
Heather
Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson, Canada
Fan
Wang/Xinyi Xia, China
Barbora
Hermannova/Marketa
Slukova, Czech Republic
Taru Lahti/Anniina Parkkinen, Finland
Sandra Ittlinger/Chantal Laboureur, Germany
Marta
Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth, Italy
Miki Ishii/Megumi Murakami, Japan
Tina Graudina/Anastasija Kravcenoka, Latvia
Sanne
Keizer/Madelein
Meppelink, Netherlands
Maria Voronina/Mariia Bocharova, Russia
Natalia Dubovcova/Andrea Strbova, Slovakia
Elsa Baquerizo/
Liliana Fernandez, Spain
Joana
Heidrich/Anouk
Verge-Depre, Switzerland
Led by Rio 2016 medal winners Lupo/Nicolai (silver) and Brouwer/Meeuwsen (bronze), four men’s and two women’s teams competing in the FIVB Tokyo Beach Volleyball Qualification tournament have participated in past Olympics. Brouwer and Meeuwsen, who lost to eventual Rio champions Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil in the Copacabana semifinals, are also the 2013 FIVB world champions.
Lupo and Nicolai also placed fifth at the London 2012 Summer Games. Joining the Italians as two-time Olympic participants are the Spanish pairs of Gavira/Herrera and Elsa/Liliana. In addition, 15 players (six men and nine women) have experienced the Olympics.
The FIVB Tokyo Beach Volleyball Qualification tournament will consist of four phases per gender starting with four groups of four teams each (Pools A, B, C and D). The top three teams from each group in Phase I will advance and play in four pools of three pairs each (Pools E, F, G and H) in Phase II.
Phase III will feature two groups of four teams each (Pools I and J). The top two teams in each group advance to the Final Phase where the Pool I winner will play the Pool J runner-up and the Pool J winner will meet the Pool I runner-up.
The two winners of the matches will get the quota place for their NOC/NF at the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, providing they meet the Athlete Eligibility requirements stipulated in the qualification system.
To be eligible to represent a NOC that has been allocated a quota place through the Olympic Qualification Tournament, the 2019 World Championships or the Olympic Ranking List of June 15, 2020, all athletes must have participated as an individual in a minimum of 12 of the following events: the Olympic Qualification Tournament; the World Championships; the World Tour Finals; FIVB World Tour events; recognized Continental Tours Finals, scheduled from September 1, 2018 until June 14, 2020.
In total, the Olympic beach volleyball tournament will feature 24 men's and 24 women's teams. The FIVB Beach Volleyball Tokyo Qualification Tournament is one of four pathways via which teams can qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The other pathways include the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships (1 team per gender - berths won by the NFs of Russia and Canada at the 2019 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Hamburg, Germany), the Olympic Ranking List on June 15, 2020 (15 teams per gender) and the FIVB Beach Volleyball Continental Cup (5 teams per gender). The Olympic tournament hosts (Japan) are guaranteed one quota place per gender.
Click
here for further information about the Tokyo 2020 qualification process.