Beach Shorts: The week in the sands of the world

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A tournament in September will distribute one Olympic berth in each gender (Photocredit: FIVB)

Hello, beach volleyball fans! The last month of the year is here and while most of the athletes are already preparing their bodies for what we expect to be an amazing 2019 season, some relevant news about the Olympic qualification process have been released. Check how the Olympic rankings look like and find out who’s going to coach Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb as they try to book their places to Tokyo.

It’s Beach Shorts time!

New Olympic qualification event in China

Beach volleyball athletes from around the globe will have yet another opportunity to qualify their countries to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as the FIVB announced the creation on an Olympic qualification event. The tournament will be held in China from September 18-22 and 16 teams in each gender will be invited to compete – one Chinese tandem and the 15 best duos in the world rankings after the Gstaad Major. The winner in each gender will guarantee their country a spot in the next Olympics.

CEV Beach Volleyball on Twitter

@FIVBVolleyball has announed an Olympic #BeachVolleyball Qualification tournament in China 🇨🇳 September, 2019 to allow teams to qualify directly for the #Tokyo2020 Olympics! 🏐🔝 Read the details: https://t.co/tXab7hZNu5

Olympic rankings updated

Speaking about the qualification process to Tokyo 2020, the Olympic rankings have been updated for the last time in 2018 following the one-star event in Ljubljana this past week. The top three for the women has China’s Chen Xue/Fan Wang (2.060 points), Canada’s Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson (1.940) and Brazil’s Ana Patricia Silva/Rebecca Cavalcanti (1.880). Qatar’s Cherif Samba/Ahmed Tijan (1.400), Russia’s Oleg Stoyanovskiy/Viacheslav Krasilnikov (1.360) and Germany’s Yannick Harms/Phillipp Bergmann (1.180) are the three male teams with the most points. Check the full women’s and men’s rankings.

China's Xue and Wang are at the top of the women's Olympic ranking (Photocredit: FIVB)

Bourne and Crabb have a new coach

Americans Tri Bourne and Trevor Crabb, who started their partnership a few months ago when Bourne returned to the sands after he recovered from a chronic inflammatory muscle disease that sidelined him for two years, will enter 2019 with a new coach. The duo is now working with Brazilian legend Jose Loiola, who also coaches the women’s team of Sara Hughes and Summer Ross.

The team that we're going to war with...

619 Likes, 7 Comments - Tri Bourne Official (@tribourne) on Instagram: "The team that we're going to war with..."

Social Media: Pereyra’s quick hands

Argentinean player Fernanda Pereyra is using the off-season to enhance her skills in a different sport. Are her hands quick enough for boxing? What do you think?

Preparándome para subir al ring 🥊 Cómo me ven? Tengo futuro en el mundo del boxeo? #beachvolleyball #beachvolley #volleyball #volleyballislife #roadtotokio2020 #roadlima2019

70 Likes, 2 Comments - Fernanda Pereyra (@ferpereyra2) on Instagram: "Preparándome para subir al ring 🥊 Cómo me ven? Tengo futuro en el mundo del boxeo?..."

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See you next week!