Xia Xinyi highlights the list of Olympians set to grace the courts in Nuevo Vallarta. The Chinese athlete competed at both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. She made her international debut with her current partner Yan Xu at the Adelaide 2025 FIVB World Championships in November, and now they are about to embark on their third Challenge campaign this season.
Paris 2024 Olympians Monika Paulikiene & Aine Raupelyte of Lithuania will try to at least match the second-place result they achieved last week in Tlaxcala, the best ever of their beach volleyball journey, as they star at the Nayarit Challenge this week. The list of Olympians to compete in western Mexico also includes Giuliana Poletti Corrales & Michelle Valiente of Paraguay.
Japan’s Asami Shiba & Reika Murakami, who achieved their best result on the Beach Pro Tour by snatching silver at the first Challenge event of the year in Bhubaneswar, are back for more in Nayarit. So are Finland’s Anniina Parkkinen & Valma Prihti, who won the last Challenge tournament of 2025 in Nuvali.
One of the most active teams on the Tour this season, Romania’s Francesca Alupei & Beata Vaida, will try to pick up their first Challenge medal in Nayarit, after already making two podiums at the Futures level earlier this season – gold in Mount Maunganui and silver in Coolangatta. The two Chinese finalists of the Haikou Futures – winners Jiang Kaiyue & Dong Jie and runners-up Kadeliye Halaiti & Zhou Mingli – are also about to test their skills in the Nayarit Challenge main draw.
Germany’s Lea Kunst & Melanie Paul lead the women’s line-up for the Nayarit Challenge on entry points and will be seeded number one in the main draw bracket.
