Pedro working his way back where he belongs

Pedro Solberg has long been a household name on the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. A couple of difficult seasons within the last three years might not make the fact obvious, but not many players in the world can match the Brazilian’s achievements in international beach volleyball.

The seventh male player with the most gold medals won in international beach volleyball (21), Pedro was part of a very dominant team with Harley Marques between 2007 and 2008 as the duo won as many as 12 World Tour medals in the period, including nine golds. The Brazilian went to win 27 more in the next ten seasons, stepping on the podium at least once in each of them.

The 35-year-old blocker has also enjoyed some success with Evandro Goncalves as the duo went on to win the bronze medal at the 2015 FIVB World Championship and represent Brazil at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Since 2018, however, Pedro’s life on the World Tour hasn’t been the same. The Brazilian has appeared in 24 international tournaments but has failed to win a medal in each of them. Historically a high-ranked player, he has had to play in country quotas or qualifiers in five of his last seven events, including this week’s 4-star tournament at the Cancun Hub.

“I started 2018 really well with George (Wanderley) and we made it to the semifinals of the Fort Lauderdale Major”, he told Volleyball World. “Then, unfortunately, I made a bad decision when I decided to play with Bruno (Schmidt) again. Our partnership didn’t work on or off the court and that situation really frustrated and drained me. When he left me to play with Evandro (Goncalves) I didn’t have a lot of options and the timing was terrible, so that really hurt my motivation. I’ve tried to move forward with a few different partners, but never really found a good match.”

Pedro entered the 2021 season with a new partner in 25-year-old Arthur Lanci and hoping that their chemistry would be better. The move was one of the many the Brazilian has made to try to regain his space among the elite of the sport.

The team showed some promising signs of progress over the last two days as they defeated compatriots Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes and Arthur Mariano, who finished fifth in the first event, in the Brazilian country quota on Wednesday and followed that up with a 2-0 (21-19, 21-17) victory against Norwegians Hendrik Mol and Sven Solhaug in the qualifier.

“What I love about Arthur is that he’s got such a great energy,” Pedro added. “We lost in last week’s country quota and still had a great week of training before this one, and were always with a smile on our faces. At this point of my career, winning country quota and qualifier matches means a lot. It’s one day at a time now, I don’t want to be stuck in my past or to think too much about my future. Today is the day it matters.”

Among several new things, the Brazilian has also turned to a familiar face to help him climb the international rankings again. During almost the entirety of his career, Pedro has been coached by veteran Renato Franca. The two had gone separate ways during the last two years, but reconnected ahead of the 2021 season.

“He’s been my coach for nearly 90 percent of my career and it’s been great to work with him again”, the Brazilian commented. “More than a coach, he’s one of my best friends and we’ve done so much together.”

Thursday’s qualification matches and the entire main draw will be streamed live on the Beach Volleyball World Youtube channel. Subscribe, log in and set reminders to receive notifications when streams begin.

Go to:
Cancun Hub - 2nd event
Cancun Hub - 2nd event - Match schedule
Provisional Olympic ranking - Men
Provisional Olympic ranking - Women

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