Away from the international beach volleyball scene since they stood at the top of the podium at the Paris Olympics over seven months ago, Brazilian stars Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patrícia Ramos are set to reappear on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour this week, during the Quintana Roo Elite, in Mexico.

Set to take place at the Playa del Carmen, near Cancún, from Wednesday to Sunday, the first Elite tournament of the 2025 season will feature as many as 40 athletes who competed in the last edition of the Games, with 20 in each gender.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Quintana Roo Elite live on VBTV

After winning gold in Paris and taking Brazil back to the top of the podium of the Olympics for the first time in 28 years, Duda and Ana Patrícia took a few months off to recover and recharge. The two intended to compete in the Elite tournaments held in the Brazilian cities of João Pessoa and Rio de Janeiro between October and November, but were forced to withdraw because of a back injury sustained by Ana Patrícia.

“It’s a new moment for us and some things have changed after Paris,” Duda said. “Life is giving us new opportunities and we’re trying to grab them. We know we haven’t played in a while and that coming back may not be easy, so we’ll be patient with this process. We have quite a few tournaments coming up in the next weeks and we want to get back into shape and test new things. And we’ll definitely enjoy being back on the court.”

The long period away from the Beach Pro Tour has taken the two a long way down in the FIVB World Rankings as Duda and Ana Patrícia currently appear in 33^rd place. The two also start the season with a new coach after Lucas Palermo, who guided them to win gold in Paris, is now the coach of the Dutch women’s teams. Iago Hercowitz has been working with them since the start of the year.

“We already knew Iago’s work and he’s been showing to be a great fit for our team,” Ana Patrícia explained. “Every change brings new things and we’re still in the process of adjusting to it. It’s a restart in certain ways, but knowing that we have people on our side that believe in us as much as we do is reassuring.”

The Olympic champions enter the Quintana Roo Elite seeded fifth, below USA’s Kristen Nuss/Taryn Brash, Brazil’s Thamela Coradello/Victoria Lopes, USA’s Terese Cannon/Megan Kraft and Germany’s Svenja Müller/Cinja Tillmann.

VW Beach Pro Tour Quintana Roo Elite: Match Schedule

On the men’s side, Paris Olympic champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden are also entered in the Quintana Roo Elite, where they will make their season debut. The Europeans are the top-seeded team in the event, with Argentina’s Tomas Capogrosso/Nicolas Capogrosso, Poland’s Michal Bryl/Bartosz Łosiak, Latvia’s Martins Plavins/Kristians Fokerots and Cuba’s Noslen Diaz/Jorge Alayo completing the top five.

The event in Mexico will also mark the debut of new teams formed after the Paris Games, such as the Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Steven van de Velde and Matthew Immers/Ruben Penninga.

New format

The tournament in Mexico will be the first Beach Pro Tour Elite event held under the new format, developed for the 2025 season. The new system brings a significant expansion for the events of this category, which will have 24 teams per gender competing in the main draw instead of 16.

The 16 best-ranked teams in each gender start directly in the main draw, with the remaining eight spots being filled by the ones that emerge from the 16-team qualifiers. In the main draw, the 24 duos will be split into six pools of four.

The first stage of the main draw will be held in a modified pool play system, with the top three teams in each pool advancing – pool winners go directly to the Round of 12, while second and third-placed duos need to play in the Round of 18.

In the round of 12, the six winners will advance to the quarterfinals alongside two of the losing sides. From the quarterfinals on, the tournament progresses in a single elimination format.

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