Andre Loyola and George Wanderley haven't had a lot of time to celebrate the bronze medals they won at the Beach Volleyball World Championships Rome 2022 last weekend. Five days after taking their place on the podium at the Foro Italico, the Brazilians will be back on the court on their national tour.

The FIVB World Ranking leaders returned to Brazil on Tuesday and after just a couple of days of resting and celebrating with their families and friends, headed to Vila Velha, the city that will host the fourth stop on the country’s national tour. Andre, who is from Vila Velha, but currently lives in Joao Pessoa, said that he's excited to play in his hometown.

“We’re tired after playing consecutive events on the Beach Pro Tour and the World Championship,” he said. “But with this being my home tournament, we wouldn't miss it. It's always special to play here and the last time we did, in 2019, we won and it was one of the most special victories in my career. We know we're tired and we didn't practice after Rome, but we're going for gold.”

Seeded second in the men’s tournament, the two will play their first matches at the Praia da Costa on Friday, when the ‘Top 8’ event begins.

“We’re feeling great about our team after we won bronze in Rome,” George told Volleyball World. “We celebrated a little bit with our family members that were there, but quickly reset our focus to this event. Vila Velha is Andre’s hometown and it’s a tournament that we love to play at because we have the support of the fans and he’ll be able to have this family at the matches. We had two consecutive podium finishes overseas and are looking forward to adding another one on our national tour this week.”

Andre and George are one of two Brazilian teams who competed at the World Championships at the event in Vila Velha. Rio 2016 Olympic champion Bruno Schmidt and partner Saymon Barbosa, who finished fifth in Rome after falling to Andre and George in the quarterfinals, will also play.

World Championship silver medallists Vitor Felipe and Renato Lima were initially entered to play in Vila Velha, but decided to withdraw in order to prepare for the Beach Pro Tour Elite16 tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland, from July 6-10.

Alison Cerutti and Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes, who were also fifth in Rome, have announced the end of their partnership after the Rio 2016 Olympic champion revealed he will stay away from the courts to heal plantar fasciitis. Guto will play with 27-year-old Vinicius Freitas in Vila Velha.

The women’s event will not feature newly-crowned world champions Ana Patricia Ramos and Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa, who also decided to withdraw to rest ahead of the remainder of the Beach Pro Tour season.

Veterans Carolina Salgado and Barbara Seixas, who were ninth in Rome, and Taiana Lima and Hegeile ‘Hege’ Almeida, who finished 17th, will both compete this week in Vila Velha.