The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour is set to return to Espinho soon, with the Portuguese coastal city scheduled to host the fifth Challenge tournament of the 2023 season from July 13-16.

The men’s field in Portugal is going to be a strong one, with 26 countries represented among the 48 teams that will get on the court at the stadium set up at the iconic Praia da Baia, which first hosted an international beach volleyball event back in 1995.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Espinho Challenge live on VBTV

Among the 96 men’s players who entered the tournament there are 20 with Olympic experience and as many as four Olympic medallists – Italy’s Paolo Nicolai and Daniele Lupo, Spain’s Pablo Herrera and Latvia’s Janis Smedins.

Brazil has four teams among the 16 duos entered directly into the main draw, including top-seeded Andre Loyola/George Wanderley and second-seeded Pedro Solberg/Gustavo ‘Guto’ Carvalhaes. Also representing the South American nation will be ninth-seeded Evandro Gonçalves/Arthur Lanci and 13^th-seeded Vitor Felipe/Renato Lima.

I cubani Jorge Alayo e Noslen Diaz, terzi, gli ucraini Sergiy Popov e Eduard Reznik, quarti, e gli spagnoli Pablo Herrera e Adrián Gavira, quinti, completano la top five, seguiti da tre coppie europee: gli italiani Paolo Nicolai/Samuele Cottafava, gli olandesi Steven van de Velde/Matthew Immers e i norvegesi Hendrik Mol/Mathias Berntsen.

Le altre cinque squadre iscritte direttamente al main draw dell'Espinho Challenge sono gli americani Chaim Schalk e Tri Bourne, decimi, gli australiani Mark Nicolaidis e Izac Carracher, undicesimi, gli americani Miles Evans e Chase Budinger, quattordicesimi, Kusti Nōlvak e Mart Tiisaar, quindicesimi, Marco Krattiger e Florian Breer e i portoghesi João Pedrosa e Hugo Campos, sedicesimi.

Beach Pro Tour Espinho Challenge – Men's Entry List

L'evento portoghese sarà la prima apparizione internazionale per i cubani Alayo e Diaz dopo il Saquarema Challenge, in aprile. In questo periodo, i caribici hanno vinto le qualificazioni ai Campionati del Mondo NORCECA, a giugno, e hanno rappresentato il loro Paese ai Giochi Centroamericani e dei Caraibi.

Also competing in the Central American and Caribbean Games were Mexicans Juan Virgen and Miguel Saravia, who took gold in El Salvador. The two have also been absent from the Beach Pro Tour since the Saquarema Challenge.

Returning to international competition after an even longer absence will be Israelis Eylon Elazar and Netanel Ohana. The Europeans have last appeared on the Beach Pro Tour one week before the Saquarema event, when they failed to advance in the qualifier of the Itapema Challenge.

The Espinho Challenge will also mark the return to competition of Dutch Olympian Christiaan Varenhorst. The 33-year-old blocker last competed one year ago, exactly at the Espinho Challenge, but sustained a back injury that sidelined him for some months. Varenhorst will make his first appearance with new partner Leon Luini in Portugal.

Il torneo inizierà con le qualificazioni giovedì, quando 32 squadre si batteranno per gli otto posti rimanenti nel main draw. La fase principale dell'evento, che prevede 24 coppie, inizierà venerdì e si concluderà domenica con gli incontri per le medaglie.

L'Espinho Challenge metterà in palio 75.000 dollari per genere e punti preziosi per la qualificazione alle Olimpiadi di Parigi 2024.

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