Il Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour tornerà ad Amburgo la prossima settimana, quando la città tedesca si preparerà ad accogliere il settimo evento Elite16 della stagione da mercoledì a domenica.

L'iconico Am Rothenbaum Stadium sarà il palcoscenico del torneo, che conterà 28 squadre maschili provenienti da 17 Paesi diversi durante i cinque giorni di azione.

• Watch the Beach Pro Tour Hamburg Elite16 matches live on VBTV

The tournament has 12 teams guaranteed in the main draw and 16 in the qualifier, who will be the first to get on the court, on Wednesday, when they will compete for the final four spots in the main draw of the German event.

Reigning Olympic and world champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway are the top-seeded duo entering the Hamburg Elite16. The Beach Volley Vikings won three of the six Elite16 events held so far in the season, including the most recent one, in Montréal, Canada, in July, but will be looking to bounce back after a frustrating fifth-place finish at the European Championship.

Americans Miles Partain and Andy Benesh, who faced the Norwegians in the gold medal matches of the last two Elite16 events, winning in Gstaad and losing in Montréal, are seeded second in the main draw in Hamburg, right above Czechs Ondrej Perusic and David Schweiner, who took gold in Uberlândia and will be back together after sitting out of the Montréal event due to an injury.

Clemens Wickler and Nils Ehlers are the highest-seeded German team, appearing in fourth place. The two took bronze in Hamburg last year and also stepped on the podium in third place in Tepic in 2023.

Sweden’s David Åhman/Jonatan Hellvig, Qatar’s Cherif Younousse/Ahmed Tijan and Italy’s Adrian Carambula/Alex Ranghieri occupy the next three spots in the entry list, raking fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

Seeded eighth and ninth, Poland’s Michal Bryl/Bartosz Łosiak, who are the defending Hamburg Elite16 champions, and the Netherlands’ Stefan Boermans/Yorick De Groot have both been dealing with injuries recently and will confirm their participation in the event over the next few days.

Completano la formazione del main draw ad Amburgo i brasiliani Andre Loyola/George Wanderley, i tedeschi Paul Henning/Sven Winter e i brasiliani Pedro Solberg/Gustavo 'Guto' Carvalhaes.

Beach Pro Tour Montréal Elite16 – Men's Entry List

Le qualificazioni ad Amburgo vedranno la partecipazione di alcuni pesi massimi del beach volley internazionale, con cinque medaglie olimpiche in azione: gli olandesi Alexander Brouwer e Robert Meeuwsen, che hanno conquistato l'argento l'anno scorso all'evento, gli italiani Paolo Nicolai (con Samuele Cottafava) e Daniele Lupo (con Enrico Rossi) e lo spagnolo Pablo Herrera (con Adrián Gavira).

Il sorteggio principale inizia giovedì, dopo la conclusione delle qualificazioni, e prevede quattro gironi con quattro squadre ciascuno. Le prime tre squadre di ogni pool parteciperanno ai gironi eliminatori, che comprenderanno gli ottavi di finale e i quarti di finale, sabato. Le semifinali e le partite per le medaglie si disputeranno domenica.

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