Lausanne, Switzerland, January 25, 2017 – Brazil’s new-look teams will be aiming to hit top form at the Joao Pessoa leg of the Brazil Tour so as to be ready for the start of the 2017 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
The tournament is the sixth of nine on the Brazilian Tour and comes a week before the first World Tour event, the Fort Lauderdale Major Series that runs from February 7-12.
Two of the teams that represented Brazil at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games will play with new partners.
Pedro Solberg has split from Evandro Goncalves and will now pair up with 2013 U21 world champion Guto Carvalhaes. Evandro will play with Andre Stein.
“We are very excited, Guto is an incredible talent, a sensational kid,” Pedro said. “He has great ambition, in a good way, to want to mark his name in history, to win titles.”
Women’s silver medallists Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas have gone their separate ways and Agatha will now play with rising superstar of the Brazilian game, Eduarda ‘Duda’ Santos Lisboa, while Barbara will pair up with Fernanda Alves.
“I want to learn more and gain experience, so this partnership will be very important in this sense,” said Duda. “We have a very good structure, we are very focused and we know where we want to go.”
While Rio 2016 men’s champions Alison Cerutti and Bruno Schmidt lead the men’s draw, they will be chasing Alvaro Filho and Saymon Santos, who top the men’s rankings. Larissa Franca and Talita Antunes lead the way in the women’s rankings having won the first three stages.
After Joao Pessoa, the Tour features tournaments in Maceio and Aracaju before it climaxes in Vitoria.
Visit the website of the
Brazilian Volleyball Confederation for more information.