After having Elite tournaments in North and South America, the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour gets to Europe this week and the Czech city of Ostrava will be the first of three locations on the continent to host events of the highest level, with matches going on from Wednesday to Sunday.

One of the most iconic venues in international beach volleyball, the Lower Vítkovice industrial heritage site, the grounds of a former coal mine, has hosted Beach Pro Tour stops in each of the first three seasons of the event and also staged FIVB World Tour tournaments in 2018, 2019 and 2021.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Ostrava Elite live on VBTV

Competing this week in the third-largest Czech city will be fan favorites Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner. The reigning world champions will return to action on the Beach Pro Tour after almost two months – they took gold in the season-opening Yucatán Challenge and were fifth in the Quintana Roo Elite event, both held in Mexico.

A few months away from defending the title they won in 2022 at this year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship, the Czech stars have already won two international tournaments in their home country – a World Tour two-star event in Prague in 2021 and last year’s Beach Pro Tour Brno Futures-, but are yet to take the title in the iconic Ostrava.

The 30-year-olds have appeared in the six tournaments ever held in the city and made three consecutive finals between 2019 and 2022, always finishing second. They also made it to the semifinals in 2018 and 2023, ranking fourth, and had their worst result in the city last year, when they finished ninth.

In order to take gold for the first time in Ostrava, Perusic and Schweiner will need to overcome elite competition as this week’s tournament will reunite the top teams competing on the Beach Pro Tour.

Beach Pro Tour Ostrava Elite – Men’s Entry List

Among them are reigning Olympic champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden, FIVB World Ranking leaders and Tokyo Olympic champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway, Tokyo Olympic medalists Ahmed Tijan and Cherif Younousse of Qatar and Dutch Stefan Boermans and Yorick de Groot, who won the most recent Elite tournament of the season, held in Brasília, Brazil, in mid-April.

Americans and Brazilians lead the women’s field

On the women’s side, four teams from beach volleyball powerhouses the United States and Brazil appear among the five best-seeded duos entering this week’s event in Ostrava.

Paris Olympians Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher, who won gold in Brasília just over a month ago, are the top-ranked team going into the event, while their compatriots Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft, who won medals in five of the last seven events they played, come in third place.

Representing Brazil, Olympians Carol Salgado and Rebecca Cavalcanti, who won the Quintana Roo Elite, appear in fourth place, while Thamela Coradello and Victoria Lopes, who topped the podium at the Saquarema Challenge and recently moved to the top of the FIVB World Rankings, are fifth.

Beach Pro Tour Ostrava Elite – Women’s Entry List

Sandwiched between Americans and Brazilians are the reigning European champions, Germans Svenja Müller and Cinja Tilmman, who won their first title as partners in Ostrava back in 2022.

Hosts Czechia will be represented in the main draw by their new team of Paris Olympian Marie-Sára Štochlová and Marketa Svozilová. Starting their first season as partners, the Europeans received a wild card into the Ostrava Elite main draw after ranking fifth and ninth in the two Challenge events they played.

The event will begin on Wednesday, with the qualifiers for both genders and the first pool play matches of the women’s main draw. Pool play will continue for the next two days, with six women’s and two men’s Round of 18 matches taking place by the end of the day on Friday.

Beach Pro Tour Ostrava Elite – Match Schedule

The elimination rounds continue on Saturday, with the completion of the Round of 18 for the men and the Round of 12 and quarterfinal encounters for both genders. The semifinals will be held on Sunday morning, with the medal medals following in the afternoon.

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