Renato beats former partner for Saquarema main draw spot

After entering four teams in the men’s qualifier of this week’s Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour Elite event in Saquarema, host country Brazil saw two of them progress to the main draw on Wednesday.

With the 24 teams now confirmed, the main draw will begin on Thursday, at 9:00 local time (12:00 GMT), with the first 18 pool play matches taking place at the Campo de Aviação.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Saquarema Elite live on VBTV

Among the two Brazilian teams qualified was the one of 25-year-old Renato Lima and 21-year-old Pedro Oliveira, who are making just their second appearance as teammates on the Beach Pro Tour this week and are set to compete in the main draw of an Elite event for the first time together after finishing ninth at the Yucatán Challenge back in March.

In order to overcome the qualifier in Saquarema, Renato, a silver medalist at the 2022 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship, had to defeat his former partner Vitor Felipe, who paired with defender Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes for the 2025 season. The Brazilians met in the qualifier and Pedro and Renato came out on top, winning 2-0 (26-24, 21-13).

Renato and the 34-year-old Vitor were partners on the Beach Pro Tour from 2021 to 2024. They played together in 31 events and went to the podium in three of them, having the silver medals won at the World Championship in Rome as the highest point of their partnership.

The Brazilians will have a tough challenge in their first main draw match in Saquarema as they are set to face reigning Olympic champions David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden in their first Pool B match – Australia’s Mark Nicolaidis/Izac Carracher and the Netherlands’ Alexander Brouwer/Steven van de Velde are the other teams in the pool.

Beach Pro Tour Saquarema Elite – Match Schedule

Paris Olympian George Wanderley and new partner Saymon Barbosa formed the second Brazilian team to qualify in Saquarema on Wednesday. The two, who are back on the Beach Pro Tour after being forced to forfeit two matches in Yucatán last month due to an injury, downed Dutch Matthew Immers and Ruben Penninga 2-0 (21-18, 21-15) to advance in their home sand.

Hörl and Pristauz win Austrian battle

Another domestic battle took place during the men’s qualifier in Saquarema on Wednesday and it saw Austrians Julian Hörl and Moritz Pristauz take down compatriots Paul Pascariuc and Laurenc Grössig in straight sets (21-19, 21-13) to progress.

American Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans were also among the qualified teams after they eliminated the home duo of Heitor Barbosa and Vinicius Rezende with a dramatic three-set (21-18, 12-21, 19-17) victory.

Canada’s Sam Schachter/Jonathan Pickett, France’s Calvin Aye/Rémi Bassereau, Germany’s Sven Winter/Lukas Pfretzschner and Portugal’s Hugo Campos/João Pedrosa claimed the remaining four spots and will also be in action in the main draw in Brazil.

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