Canada’s world number one beach volleyball team Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson will take on teams from host nation Germany, Switzerland and Uruguay in the pool stage of this year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships Hamburg 2019 presented by comdirect and ALDI Nord.
The pair, who have shot to the top of the FIVB Beach Volleyball world rankings, head to Europe aiming to build on the fifth place finish they achieved at the last world championships in Vienna two years ago.
Team Bansley/Brandie, the number three seeds in Hamburg, face Kim Behrens and Cinja Tillmann of Germany, Swiss pair Joana Heidrich and Anouk Vergé-Dépré and Camila Bausero and Maria Florencia Rotti Giordano of Uruguay in Pool C.
Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes begin their search for a place on the podium after finishing fourth in Vienna in 2017 with matches against Americans Sarah Sponcil/Kelly Claes, Russians Ekaterina Birlova/Evgeniya Ukolova and Diana Rios/Yuli Ayala of Colombia.
Twenty-one-year-old twin sisters Megan and Nicole McNamara have been drawn in Pool A as they make their world championship debuts. The pair face competition from Germany’s Sandra Ittlinger/Chantal Laboureur, Italians Marta Menegatti/Viktoria Orsi Toth and Patricia Caballero/Michelle Valiente of Paraguay.
In the men’s pools, Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter will tackle Latvians Aleksandrs Samoilovs/Janis Smedins, Adrian Heidrich/Mirco Gerson of Switzerland and Chilean pair Lammel Romo/Ignacio Zavala.
Ben Saxton and Grant O’Gorman face stiff competition in Pool F, alongside Americans Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena, Dutch duo Alexander Brouwer/Robert Meeuwsen and Julian Azaad/Nicholas Capogrosso of Argentina.
Elsewhere in the draw, world number ones and top seeds, Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway, face competition from teams from Brazil, hosts Germany and Cuba as the Beachvolley Vikings embark on their first ever World Championships.
Reigning world champion Laura Ludwig, who now partners with Maggie Kozuch, will begin the defence of her title with pool play matches against tandems from Brazil, the United States and Nigeria.
The top two teams from each pool automatically progress to the elimination rounds, with the four best third-placed teams joining them. The eight remaining third-placed teams will play-off in a ‘lucky loser’ round to determine the final four spots in the Round of 32.
THE DRAW:
Women (CAN)
- Pool A: Ittlinger/Laboureur (GER), Menegatti/Orsi Toth (ITA), McNamara/McNamara (CAN), Michelle/Pati (PAR)
- Pool C: Bansley/Wilkerson (CAN), Behrens/Tillman (GER), Heidrich/Vergé-Dépré (SUI), Bausero/Rotti Giordano (URU)
- Pool I: Pavan/Humana-Paredes (CAN), Sponcil/Claes (USA), Birlova/Ukolova (RUS), Diana/Yuli (COL)
Click here for the full overview of the Women’s Pools
Men (CAN)
- Pool F: Lucena/Dalhausser (USA), Brouwer/Meeuwsen (NED), Saxton/O’Gorman (CAN), Azaad/Capogrosso (ARG)
- Pool K: Samoilovs/Smedins (LAT), Pedlow/Schachter (CAN), Heidrich/Gerson (SUI), Zavala/Lammel (CHI)
Click here for the full overview of the Men’s Pools
The world class action will guarantee goosebumps when the Rothenbaum opens its doors on June 28 – and every match will be available to watch live on BeachStream.
