It's been a long time coming; the road to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics appears to begin. After 12+ months of virtually no competition, three Canadian pairs will return to the FIVB beach volleyball circuit March 9 at the 2021 Katara Beach Volleyball Cup in Doha, Qatar.
The 2019 World Champions, Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes will look to resume their winning ways when they face off against Switzerland's Esmée Böbner and Zoé Vergé-Dépré to begin the second day of the Cups' competition. The same can be said for Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson, taking to the court shortly after to take on Kinga Wojtasik and Katarzyna Kociolek of Poland.
In men's action, Grant O'Gorman and Ben Saxton square off against the Czech Republic duo of Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner.
The Cup will be livestreamed on the FIVB's beach volleyball YouTube Channel. Links to the streams have been provided below.
Starting Times
Women
Sarah Pavan/Melissa Humana-Paredes
First match: Tuesday, March 9 | 2:00 a.m. EST | Pool A
Heather Bansley/Brandie Wilkerson
First match: Tuesday, March 9 | 2:50 a.m. EST | Pool D
Men
Grant O'Gorman/Ben Saxton
First match: Tuesday, March 9 | 5:20 a.m. EST | Pool C
The FIVB world rankings were last updated in March 2020, almost one year ago. Pavan and Humana-Paredes sat atop the list at the number one spot while Bansley/Wilkerson were positioned at 16. O'Gorman/Saxton were just outside of the top 15 Olympic ranking in the men's bracket.
The Katara Beach Volleyball Cup runs March 8-12. Click here for the full schedule to keep up with the Canadians.
Photo: CSIOntario. The Ontario-born duo were the number one ranked team in the world before the pandemic shut down competitions