2019-06-21 12:30:00 CEST
The week in the sands of the world
Emily Stockman and partner Kelley Larsen will compete this weekend at the American AVP
Okay, I get it. You cannot wait for the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Hamburg 2019 presented by comdirect and ALDI Nord, right? Neither can we! Good news is it’s just one week away now!
That means it’s time for your final arrangements. If you’re going to Hamburg, you’d better start packing. If not, maybe you want to ask for a few days off at work so you can follow all the action at BeachStream.
Our players are also in the final steps of preparation for the moment they’ve been waiting for the last two years. Most of them are getting a well-deserved weekend off to make sure they’ll get to Hamburg well-rested, but others decided to get some competition to fine tune their games. Want to follow them? We got you covered!
National Tours in the USA and Switzerland
The American AVP is set to host its fourth event in 2019 in Seattle and four of the nines team of the country with tickets booked to Hamburg next week will play: Jake Gibb/Taylor Crabb, Billy Allen/Stafford Slick, Kelly Claes/Sarah Sponcil and Kelley Larsen/Emily Stockman. Across the Atlantic, in Switzerland, Olten will stage the second national tournament of the year and the home teams of Joana Heidrich/Anouk Vergé-Dépré and Adrian Heidrich/Mirco Gerson will play, as well as the invited international teams of Australia’s Becchara Palmer/Nicole Laird and Qatar’s Cherif Samba/Ahmed Tijan.
Qataris Cherif and Ahmed will fine tune their preparation to Hamburg in the Swiss Tour
Continental Cup across Europe
Olympic qualification to the Tokyo 2020 Games continues at full pace in Europe with three pools in each gender completing the first phase of the process. Among the teams competing will be Belgians Dries Koekelkeren and Tom van Walle, who will represent their country in Batumi, Georgia, before they fly to Hamburg for the World Championships.
Koekelkeren and van Walle will try to help Belgium to progress on the road to Tokyo
Under-21 World Championships in Thailand
Also keep an eye on the Under-21 World Championships which are taking place in Udonthani City, Thailand. Several of the players competing in Asia this week could be headed for the senior World Championships in just a few years. Among the most promising names are Russia’s Mariia Bocharova and Maria Voronina, Brazil’s Victoria Lopes and Sweden’s David Ahman and Jonatan Hellvig. There are also players with familiar surnames, such as Italy’s Reka Orsi Toth and Switzerland’s Mara Betschart.
Russians Bocharova and Voronina are among the favorites to take gold in Thailand
Social Media: Welcome, Viktore!
A little break on World Championships-related topics for good reason. Former Czech defender Kristyna Kolocová introduced us to her baby boy Viktore, who was born not long ago. Welcome, Viktore, and congrats, Kristyna!
In case you missed it
World Championships pool previews: Parts 3, 4 & 5
All you need to know about the World Championships
Know the smallest beach volleyball arena of the world!
Ricardo back at the World Tour for Gstaad Major
See you next week…in Hamburg!