Campinas, Brazil, May 28, 2013 - Olympic medallists from the United States, Brazil and Latvia are among teams representing 16 different countries that have confirmed their participation for the inaugural FIVB Beach Volleyball World Cup Final that starts on Wednesday and runs until Sunday in Campinas, Brazil.
In the women's draw April Ross/Jennifer Kessy, who won silver at the 2012 Olympic Games in London and were confirmed as United States' representatives in December, start their tournament with a match against Argentina's Ana Gallay/Maria Virginia Zonta.
The first match in the men's draw sees Olympic bronze medallists Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins take on Venezuela's Jackson Henriquez/Leonard Alexis Colina Chourio, with Smedins in hot form fresh from a gold medal at the FIVB Corrientes Grand Slam in Argentina.
Their Olympic conquerors, Brazil's Alison Cerutti/Emanuel Rego, who claimed silver in London, will take to home sand with a match against Japan's Shinpei Aoki/Masashi Ogawa, in only their second tournament back since Alison's hand injury disrupted the start of their season.
The opening matches on Wednesday starting at 09:00 (local time) sees Germany fourth seeds Katrin Holtwick and Ilka Semmler play eight seeds Heather Bansley and Elizabeth Maloney of Canada on centre court while Italy’s third seeds Greta Cicolari and Viktoria Orsi Toth take on seventh seeds Louise Bawden and Taliqua Clancy from Australia.
Top seeds in the women's draw are Brazil's Maria Antonelli/Talita Da Rocha Antunes, back together again for this tournament after both finding success with new partners in 2013, while United States' new pairing of Jake Gibb/Casey Patterson are top seeds in the men's draw after a strong start to the year, including gold at the FIVB Shanghai Grand Slam in China, has put them top of the FIVB World Ranking.
The $300,000 FIVB World Cup Final, organised by the Brazilian Volleyball Federation, is a double-gender event that combines the winners of the respective Continental Cup finals that served as Olympic qualifying events between 2010 and 2012 as well as some of the top-ranked pairings from the 2012 Olympic Games.
The tournament, staged in a purpose-built complex at Parque do Taquaral in Campinas, will determine the Continental Cup champion and prize money of $150,000 per gender will be divided among the winners - gold-medal teams in each gender will split $50,000, silver medallists $35,000 and bronze medallists $22,500 in prize money.
FIVB World Cup Final Men's ScheduleFIVB World Cup Final Women's Schedule