Beach Shorts

Europe could certainly be considered one of the epicenters of beach volleyball in the planet right now but this week, for once, we’ll barely talk about European beach volleyball in our column Beach Shorts.

Okay, there’s a mention to Kira Walkenhorst’s iminent return to the sands, but other than that we’ll discuss an early-season win in Chile, the kick off of the Brazilian Tour and provide you an update on the African Continental Cup.

That’s what we’re talking about:

Grimalts continue to dominate in Chile

Marco and Esteban Grimalt started the 2020 season with the right foot as the cousins topped the podium of an event of the Chilean National Tour in Las Cruces last weekend. The Rio 2016 Olympians defeated Gaspar Lammel and Ignacio Zavala in the final.

 

 

 

 

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Campeones de la segunda fecha de la @ligavoleyplaya en Las Cruces ☝🏼🏐🥇 muchas gracias al público presente, a nuestros auspiciadores @colocolooficial @herbalifenutritioncl @clinicameds @reebokchile @uandresbello @gatoradechile @teamchile_coch y a @monterodeportes por las braceras de Linares 💪🏼💪🏼🏐

A post shared by Primos Grimalt (@primos_grimalt) on Jan 19, 2020 at 4:21pm PST

New teams in display in Brazil

The Brazilian Tour kicks off its 2020 calendar this week with a tournament in João Pessoa, the only city in the entire nation to host the Tour in each of its 30 seasons. The event will feature a handful of new teams, including Talita Antunes/Carol Salgado, Bárbara Seixas/Carol Horta, Fernanda Berti/Taiana Lima and Pedro Solberg/Guto Carvalhaes.

Rwanda and Egypt keep the Olympic dream alive

Two more African nations kept their hopes of qualifying to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics alive this week with the conclusion of the Pool 6 of the Continental Cup. Teams from Rwanda and Egypt dominated the tournament in Massawa, Eritrea, eliminating the hosts and South Sudan and advancing to the second round, which will happen between February and March.

Social Media: Beach volleyball or beach soccer?

We already told you that after announcing her retirement last year Rio 2016 Olympic champion Kira Walkenhorst will be back in the courts in 2020, right? What we can’t tell you after her latest training session, however, is if her comeback will be in beach volleyball and beach soccer. What’s your guess?

 

 

 

 

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Spezialtraining! Sollte es 2020 im Beachvolleyball nicht mehr für die vorderen Plätze reichen, wechsele ich halt zum Fußball! 😉😂Vielleicht hat @martinavosstecklenburg ja noch eine Position frei…... - Werbung – #Comeback2020 #volley #voleibol #volleyball #beachvolley #beachvolleyball #volleyballislife #volleyballplayer #voleidepraia #sport #volimania #volleyballteam #volleyballlove #volleylife #comeback #comebackstronger @technikerbeachtour #StehaufVerfolgedeinZiel #goldengirl #paris2024 #olympicgames2024 #frauenfussball #dfb #football #soccer #frauennationalmannschaft @dflstiftung @dfb_frauenteam

A post shared by Kira Walkenhorst (@kirawalkenhorst) on Jan 21, 2020 at 2:22am PST

See you next week!