The FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is back this week with a men's event in Prague, Czech Republic. There are four Canadian men's teams in Prague competing in this tournament. All four teams will enter the tournament in the qualification round.
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Saxton-Redmann |
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Hatch-Schachter |
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Binstock-Reader |
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Van Huizen-May |
Live streams, matches and results after the jump.
The 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour in Myslowice, Poland. Photo: FIVB
The second stop on the 2012 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour for the men is in Myslowice, Poland this week. Just like last week in Brazil, we have five men's teams competing in this leg of the tour. None of the men's teams have enough entry points to gain direct access to the main draw this week so they will all have to go through the country quota go get into the qualification round. There are only five teams so only one match will have to be played. Like last week, it is another matchup between Zbyszewski-Schalk and Van Huizen-May.
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Saxton-Redmann |
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Hatch-Schachter |
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Binstock-Reader |
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Zbyszewski-Schalk |
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Van Huizen-May |
Live streams, results and match ups after the jump.
Time sure does fly. Two weeks ago I arrived in Quebec ready for the start of the the FIVB Quebec Jeep Open. Since then we have seen another grand slam event in Poland where some familiar faces took home gold. Now the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is in Austria for the final grand slam of the season at the A1 Grand Slam presented by Volksbank. There are many Canadian teams in Austria including Heather Bansley and Elizabeth Maloney fresh off a 9th place finish in Poland. Canadian Rosters, matches, results and live streams below.
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Bansley-Maloney |
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Lessard-Martin |
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MacTavish-Rodrigue |
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Binstock-Van Huizen |
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Redmann-Saxton |
Matches, results and live streams after the jump.
We are now in main draw action in the 2011 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour stop from Stare Jablonki, Poland. Four Canadian teams entered the tournament and only one has made it through to the main draw and they did so by defeating another Canadian team to get there. On the women's side Elizabeth Maloney and Heather Bansley defeated Annie Martin and Marie Andre Lessard to qualify for the main draw. On the men's side of the tournament, both Canadian teams were eliminated in the first round of qualification. Christian Redmann and Ben Saxton lost to the team of Sidorenko-Dyachenko of Kazakhstan while Josh Binstock and Rich Van Huizen were defeated by Austrailians McHugh and Slack. Games, results, scores and live streams below.
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McHugh-Slack | def. |  |
Binstock-Van Huizen | 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) |
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Sidorenko-Dyachenko | def. | |
Redmann-Saxton | 2-0 (21-16, 21-17) |
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Bansley-Maloney | def. | |
Tsimbalova-Mashkova | 2-0 (21-19, 21-16) |
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Lessard-Martin | def. |  |
Inga-Lece | 2-1 (21-12, 19-21, 15-11) |
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Bansley-Maloney | def. | |
Lessard-Martin | 2-1 (15-21, 24-22, 15-11) |
Main Draw pools, results and live streams after the jump.
Qualification round is now complete and main draw action is underway in the FIVB beach volleyball World Tour grand slam stop in Gstaad, Switzerland. This is a dual gender event and Canada is represented by two teams for each gender. The team of Lessard-Martin still is the only one of the four to have direct entry into the main draw play, so the other three must battle it out in the qualification round. Here are a list of the teams and their opponents thus far.
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Redmann-Saxton |
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Binstock-Van Huizen |
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Bansley-Maloney |
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Lessard-Martin |
As I mentioned earlier, we have passed the qualification stage and are now into main draw action. Here are the results of the Canadian duos during their qualification matches.
Match scores and live streaming video links after the jump.
Main draw action begins today at the Prague stop on the 2011 Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour. Two of the four Canadian teams have made it through the qualificaiton round. Martin Reader and Chaim Schalk lost first round to Varenhorst-Stiekema from the Netherlands and Christian Redmann and Ben Saxton were defeated in the second round to the Russian team of Romashkin-Hudyakov.
Rich Van Huizen and Josh Binstock made their way to the main draw by defeating Brits Garcia-Thompson-Grotowski in the third round of the qualificaiton round. They are seeded 30th going into the main draw and have their first round match up against the Brazillian powerhouse of Marcio Araujo-Ricardo.
Maverick Hatch and Sam Schachter (playing in their third FIVB event) have also made the main draw by ways of Estonia's Vesik-Jaani. Mav and Sam only had 18 entry points going into this tournament, so making the main draw on their third event together is big for them. They are seeded 32nd of 32 teams and will be playing Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser from The United States. Phil and Todd are ranked first in the world, are defending Olympic gold medalists and have won both men's stops this year on the 2011 FIVB tour.
So both Canadian men's teams have their work cut out for them tomorrow, but getting playing experience against two of the best teams in the world is priceless. Check out the live streams below to watch our Canadian men take on the best in the world tomorrow.
 | Binstock-Van Huizen | vs. |  | Marcio Araujo-Ricardo | 6:00 a.m. EST |
| Hatch-Schachter | vs. |  | Rogers-Dalhausser | 5:00 a.m. EST |
Live stream links after the jump.
Men's beach volleyball qualification begins in Prague. Photo: fivb.orgWhile two of the women's teams already qualified for the main draw, the men are all fighting out for a spot in their own main draw in Prague. The first round match ups for the four Canadian men's duos are:
 | Binstock-Van Huizen | vs. |  | Mykhaylov-Ostapenko |
| Hatch-Schachter | vs. |  | Barsouk-Yutvalin |
| Reader-Schalk | vs. |  | Varenhorst-Stiekema |
| Redmann-Saxton | vs. |  | Mourtzios-Niopas |
Live stream links after the jump.
With the women in Poland, the men's side of the Swatch FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour is in Prague, Czech Republic this week. With the US team of Rogers-Dalhausser looking for the hat trick on the first three events of this season, expect competition to be tough. On the Canadian side of things, we have four teams competing. Those teams are:
 | Binstock-Van Huizen | 188 |
| Hatch-Schachter | 18 |
| Reader-Schalk | 160 |
| Redmann-Saxton | 245 |
Live streams after the jump.
The Brazillian team of Larissa/Juliana will begin the 2011 FIVB beach volleyball season at home in Brazil. Photo: fivb.org
FIVB beach volleyball is back this week with the first tournament of the 2011 season. Starting off the tour in Brazil, teams representing 36 countries will compete of the six days of competition. With $190 000 up for grabs in the men's and women's tournaments each, professional beach volleyball teams worldwide are looking to start off their 2011 season strong. Not only is money a factor, but with next year's Olympics in London on the horizon, teams are also looking to have the best results possible so they can represent their countries next year in London.
More after the jump.