Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes started the defence of their world title on the right foot as the Canadians comfortably won their opening match at the Beach Volleyball World Championships Rome 2022 on Friday.
Beach Volleyball World Champs 2022
Pavan and Melissa have a strong start to their world title defence
The Canadians secure a solid victory over an Australian team to begin their campaign in Rome
Published 03:47, 10 Jun 2022
Melissa prepares to serve during the match against the Australians
Playing on one of the side courts of the majestic Foro Italico, Pavan and Melissa, the winners of the 2019 edition of the tournament, dominated Australians Georgia Johnson and Alisha Stevens to a straight-set (21-17, 21-6) victory.
· Watch all matches at the Rome 2022 World Championships live on Volleyball.tv.
The 1.96m-tall Pavan was on fire in the match against the Australians, scoring ten points in kills, five in blocks and another five in aces. Playing behind her block, Melissa had seven kills and one ace.
“It feels great to be back at the World Championships,” Pavan told Volleyball World. “It’s been a long time and we missed this environment, it’s really exciting to be back. We are prepared and want to compete against the best in the world in every match. No matter what happens, we’re just going to give everything we have on the court and walk away happy.”
Pavan's blocking generated five points for the Canadians
The first Canadian team to claim the world title, Pavan and Melissa arrived in Rome full of confidence after their victory at last week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite16 event in Jurmala, Latvia.
The pair's first international triumph since the 2019 Vienna Major, which was held in August of that year, will certainly work as a confidence booster for the world champions in the most important tournament of the 2022 season.
“The timing of that victory couldn’t have been better,” Melissa remarked. “We’ve been working for many months to produce consistent good volleyball and I think it came together in Jurmala. Now we just want to carry that into this week. The tournament there was really challenging and we had to play very well. We had ups and downs, but a lot of good learnings. We’re excited that we managed to play well the week before the World Champs.”
The opening-match victory gave the Canadians a head start in Pool J, which also features Germany’s Chantal Laboureur/Sarah Schulz and France’s Lezana Placette/Alexia Richard. The French upset the Germans in their opening match, winning 2-1 (21-19, 15-21, 15-8). The four teams will be back on the court on Sunday, when the Canadians will play the French and the Germans will clash with the Australians.
Several other medal contenders also started their campaigns in Rome with victories. Tokyo Olympic silver medallists Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho of Australia topped Egyptians Farida El Askalany and Doaa Elghobashy 2-0 (21-10, 21-14) on Pool H while Swiss pair Joana Heidrich and Anouk Verge-Depre, who stepped on the podium in the Japanese capital in third place last summer, downed Japanese Miki Ishii and Sayaka Mizoe in straight sets (21-16, 21-18) on Pool C.
World ranking leaders Raisa Schoon and Katja Stam of the Netherlands also had an uneventful debut, defeating Costa Rica’s Ximena Nunez and Angel Williams 2-0 (21-5, 21-8) in Pool A. In Pool E, Americans Kelly Cheng and Betsi Flint controlled the home team of Valentina Cali and Margherita Tega to a straight-set (21-11, 21-13) victory.
Brazil saw their top three teams start with wins too with Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patricia Ramos beating China’s Fan Wang/Xinyi Xia in two sets (21-11, 21-13) in Pool B, Carolina Salgado and Barbara Seixas sweeping (21-8, 21-5) Paraguayans Erika Bobadilla and Giuliana Poletti in Pool D and Talita Antunes and Rebecca Cavalcanti defeating Dominicans Julibeth Payano and Jeneiry Rosario in straight sets (21-6, 21-6) in Pool G.
All 48 women’s teams competing in the World Championship make their debuts on Friday. Saturday’s schedule features 12 female matches with another 24 set to happen on Sunday. Pool play concludes on Monday, when the 28 teams guaranteed a place in the Round of 32 and the eight that will have to go through the lucky loser round will be determined.
