Canada first to try Rio 2016 Olympic Beach Volleyball Arena
In the run up to Rio 2016, Volleyball Canada had the honour of being the first Olympic team to try out the Beach Volleyball Arena at the world-famous Copacabana Beach.
One of the four Canadian duos in the tournament, Heather Bansley and Sarah Pavan, started the work on the sand of the Olympic venue on Wednesday.
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The temporary structure, situated in the iconic Brazilian beach, has a centre court for competition, plus five for training and two for warmups.
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Rio 2016 beach volleyball will take place from August 6 to 18. This will be the first time Team Canada has achieved the maximum number of quota spots.
Besides Bansley and Pavan, Team Canada will be represented by Jamie Broder & Kristina Valjas; Chaim Schalk & Ben Saxton; Josh Binstock & Sam Schachter. Before heading to Brazil, the three duos are in Austria competing in the A1 Major Klagenfurt, as part of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
Beach volleyball team at the Rio 2016 Olympic nomination on July 20, 2016. From let to right, Sam Schachter, Josh Binstock, Ben Saxton, Chaim Schalk, Sarah Pavan, Kristina Valjas, Jamie Broder and Heather Bansley.
On Canada’s debut, on August 6, Binstock and Schachter will have a tough mission against the world champions and top-ranked host team of Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt.
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In total, 96 players from 24 countries will form 48 men’s and women’s teams in the sixth edition of the Olympic beach volleyball competition.
