Beach volleyball powerhouses Brazil and the United States will both have huge representation in the women’s tournament of the upcoming Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Challenge event in Edmonton, Canada.

With seven duos each in the 48-team field, Brazilians and Americans will be among the favorites in the sixth Challenge event of the 2023 season, which will take place at the Fan Pak from July 20-23.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Edmonton Challenge live on VBTV

Brazil account for four of the 16 duos already guaranteed in the main draw in Edmonton, having also three teams among the five top-seeded tandems in the main phase of the tournament.

The highest-seeded Brazilian teams in the main draw in Canada will be second-seeded Ágatha Bednarczuk and Rebecca Cavalcanti, who will be playing their fifth tournament as partners, and third-seeded Bárbara Seixas and Carol Salgado, who won last week's Espinho Challenge.

Also representing the South American nation in the main draw in Edmonton will be Tainá Bigi and Victoria Lopes, seeded fifth, and Andressa Cavalcanti and Vitoria Rodrigues, seeded 12^th.

The United States have the top-seeded duo in the women’s main draw in Terese Cannon and Sarah Sponcil. The two have already won two medals in the 2023 Beach Pro Tour season, taking silver at the Ostrava Elie16 and bronze at the Itapema Challenge.

American fans will have at least another team to cheer for in the main draw in Canada as Julia Scoles and Betsi Flint will enter the tournament seeded 14^th.

Sandwiched between Americans and Brazilians in the top five are Italians Marta Menegatti and Valentina Gottardi in fourth place. The Europeans will be looking for their second Beach Pro Tour title in 2023 following their victory at the Saquarema Challenge back in April.

The other nine teams guaranteed in the Edmonton Challenge main draw are, in seeding order, Thailand’s Taravadee Naraphornrapat/Worapeerachayakorn Kongphopsarutawadee, Switzerland’s Joana Mäder/Anouk Vergé-Dépré, China’s Chen Xue/Xinyi Xia, Slovenia’s Tjasa Kotnik/Tajda Lovsin, Spain’s Daniela Álvarez/Tania Moreno, Switzerland’s Zoé Vergé-Dépré/Esmée Böbner, Poland’s Jagoda Gruszczynska/Aleksandra Wachowicz, Argentina’s Ana Gallay/Fernanda Pereyra and Canada’s Amanda Harnett/Lea Monkhouse.

Beach Pro Tour Edmonton Challenge – Women's Entry List

Brazil could still improve its presence in the main draw by three teams if Talita Antunes/Thamela Coradello, Taiana Lima/Hegeile ‘Hege’ Santos and Carol Horta/Ana Luiza Mohr succeed in the Edmonton Challenge qualifier.

USA will have as many as five teams in action on the first day of the event, looking for a spot in the main draw – Savvy Simo/Toni Rodriguez, Molly Turner/Madelyne Anderson, Megan Kraft/Emily Stockman, Kelley Kolinske/Hailey Harward and Brook Bauer/Katie Horton.

The 48 men’s teams (16 in the main draw and 32 in the qualifier) entered in the Edmonton Challenge represent 22 countries from four continents – North and Central America, South America, Europe and Asia. Among the 96 players, there are 21 Olympians.

Quick links:
Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour 2023
VBTV
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter