After seven months, the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour returns to South America as the Brazilian city of Uberlandia prepares to host the first Elite16 tournament ever held on the continent from Wednesday to Sunday.

Brazil staged a Challenge tournament in Itapema back in April and joins Mexico as the only other nation to have held Beach Pro Tour Challenge and Elite16 tournaments in the event's inaugural season.

· Watch all matches at the Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Uberlandia live on Volleyball TV. The qualifiers will also be available on the Beach Volleyball World YouTube channel.

Located in the southeastern region of Brazil, in the state of Minas Gerais, Uberlandia is a new destination for international beach volleyball in the country. The city, which has around 700,000 inhabitants, will become the 14th Brazilian city to welcome a tournament on the global circuit. The tournament will be held at the Praia Clube, a multi-sport club founded in 1935 and featuring a wide selection of disciplines.

Praia have had one of Brazil’s top women’s volleyball teams for years and got involved in beach volleyball at the start of 2022, when the club added sand courts to its facility and started supporting a number of Brazilian teams, including reigning world champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patria Ramos. The club also hosted the South American Beach Volleyball Tour Finals back in May.

A total of 38 teams (22 men’s and 16 women’s) from 14 different countries are entered to compete this week in Uberlandia.

Uberlandia Elite16 - Match Schedule

The men’s qualifier will feature ten duos fighting for the four last spots in the main draw. Among those teams are some that have recently enjoyed success at Beach Pro Tour events around the world.

Third-seeded Brazilians Pedro Solberg and Arthur Lanci are one such team. Pedro, a Rio 2016 Olympian, and the 26-year-old Arthur won their first Beach Pro Tour medals just two weeks ago, when they finished third at the first Challenge tournament in Dubai. They were fifth in the second event held in the United Arab Emirates just a few days later.

Seeded fourth, Swiss player Adrian Heidrich, a Tokyo Olympian, and Leo Dillier also made a semifinal appearance during their time in Dubai. After failing to advance from the qualifier in the first event in the city, the Europeans made a remarkable run in the second tournament to finish fourth.

Uberlandia Elite16 - Men's Qualifier Entry List

The other eight men’s teams entered to compete in the qualifier in Uberlandia are Türkiye’s Safa Urlu/Hasan Mermer, Uruguay’s Hans Hannibal/Marco Cairus, England’s Joaquin Bello/Javier Bello, Brazil’s Arthur Mariano/Adrielson dos Santos and Gabriel Santiago/Felipe Alves, Canada’s Jake MacNeil/Bill Russell and Austria’s Paul Pascariuc/Laurenz Leitner and Felix Friedl/Florian Schnetzer.

Four teams are entered in the women’s qualifier and, with four spots in play, they will advance directly to the main draw.

Uberlandia Elite16 - Women's Qualifier Entry List

The main draw will begin on Thursday and pool play will run for two days. The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday, while the medal matches will take place on Sunday.

Quick links:
Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Uberlandia Elite16
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