2016-06-17 14:58:00 CEST
European hopes for Rio take center stage
Olympic dreams were made and shattered at the same time in Hamburg. Photocredit: Joerg Mitter.
The smart Major Hamburg might have been the last tournament for players to earn Olympic qualification points but there’s still plenty to play for as far as reaching Rio is concerned!
How come, we hear you ask? Well it’s the Continental Cup next week – the penultimate chance for nations to book their tickets to Brazil.
And earlier this week the draw was made for the European Continental Cup which swoops into Stavanger, Norway, between 22-26 June.
The 32 teams (16 per gender) will go head-to-head in a straight knockout – the winners will earn their country a place on the Copacabana while the second and third-placed teams will go forward to the final Continental Cup tournament in Sochi, which features the other teams from the four other continents.
Confused? Don’t be! Read our Dummies Guide and become a master of explaining the weird and wonderful rules of beach volleyball Olympic qualification!
The draw has already thrown up some tasty ties. In the men’s competition Nordic rivalry will be contested as host nation Norway take on Finland, and in the women’s half of the tournament, Scandinavian loyalty will be tested as Sweden meet Finland.
In the men’s draw Austria and Latvia – two nations with a real love for beach volleyball – face off for a place in the quarterfinals, while in the women’s draw, another mouthwatering match is the derby between the Czech Republic’s Marketa Slukova and Barbora Hermannova and Slovakia’s Natalia Dubovcova and Dominika Nestarcova.
Finally, there might have been heartbreak in Hamburg for Kay Matysik and Jonathan Erdmann, but they will be one of two teams which carry German hopes of a second men’s team in Rio.
Who will succeed in Stavanger? If you keep an eye on our website, then you won’t have to worry as we’ll be keeping tabs on all things Continental Cup so you don’t miss out.