Fort Lauderdale, Fla., September 17, 2015 - On a day when the promoter of the upcoming SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals introduced three players scheduled to compete in the inaugural US$500,000 event at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park, Brazil announced its final two teams that will represent the South American country in the Beach Volleyball competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.Beach Major Company CEO Hannes Jagerhofer, the promoter of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals to be played September 29 through October 4, was joined here Thursday morning at a media conference by Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler, Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors' Bureau representatives Nikki Grossman and Carol Hudson, and Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber President & CEO Dan Linblade."It's South Florida," said Jagerhofer when asked why the destination was chosen. "It's known all over the world. It's easy for us to promote, and make people excited to come here." The SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals is the fourth of four Beach Volleyball events promoted by the Beach Major Company this season with other stops in Croatia, Norway and Switzerland.Also participating in the media conference were three American players competing in the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals - Lauren Fendrick, Casey Patterson and April Ross. Patterson and two-time Olympian Jake Gibb are the No. 1-seeded men's team in the event as the pair will be seeking their second FIVB World Tour gold medal in the state of Florida after topping the international podium in mid-June at St. Petersburg.With the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals featuring the “biggest” payday ($100,000) for a men’s or women’s team winning an international event, Patterson said “it was a huge relief (to qualify) because there’s so much money on the line. In volleyball dollars, that’s a lot of money, especially these days. Maybe not old school, but right now that’s a ton of money and it’s tough to make a lot of money especially in this sport because you have to win to earn your money. It’s not like I signed a contract for the summer and no matter how I do, I get a base salary. I don’t get anything. It goes to show how important it us to stay healthy and play at a high level.”Fendrick, who is a player's representative on the FIVB Beach Volleyball Commission, and Ross are seeded first in the women's competition. Ross captured the silver medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games with Jen Kessy, who will be playing in the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals with Emily Day.Playing in their first international event together after winning the final 2015 AVP domestic event last week in southern California at Huntington Beach, Fendrick and Ross are playing together since their regular partners are sidelined with shoulder injuries.“I think we both wish we were there with our regular partners, said Fendrick, who played the last two seasons with Brooke Sweat with the pair currently ranked 14th on the FIVB World Tour. “However, we’re both going to be stronger players for them by having this challenge against the best players in the world.”“Nothing to lose,” added Ross, who has played with three different partners this season due to Kerri Walsh Jennings’ persistent right shoulder injury. “We got the wild card and we’re new partners, it’s icing on the cake for the season. People are going to get a treat, I think. People are going to have so much fun playing.”While promoter Jagerhofer, players Fendrick, Patterson and Ross, and the Fort Lauderdale dignitaries were talking Beach Volleyball on the sands of the popular south Florida beach Thursday, the Confederação Brasileira De Voleibol (CVB, Brazil’s volleyball federation) announced the final two teams to represent the country at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.The teams of Evandro Goncalves/Pedro Solberg and Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas will fill the third and fourth spots on the country’s Olympic Beach Volleyball team for Rio 2016 as the South American nation earned two berths per gender for the Summer Games due to being the host country and by winning both the men’s and women’s FIVB “senior” World Championships at the start of July in The Hague.Earlier this month prior to the Olympic “test” event on Copacabana beach, the CVB announced that Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt and Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca will fill the first two spots on the Brazilian Olympic Beach Volleyball Team. Both teams earned the top designation by finishing first in the Brazilian Rio qualifying formula of posting the best point total for seven of nine events on the 2015 FIVB World Tour.Prior to the appearance by all four teams on the Brazilian Olympic Beach Volleyball Team in the in the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Finals, the pairs will be competing this weekend in a domestic event in Contagem. The teams of Talita/Larissa and Agatha/Barbara won their opening two pool play matches Thursday with Alison/Bruno and Evandro/Pedro starting play Friday.