Canadian duo Pavan, Humana-Paredes fall short to Americans in beach volleyball final

Canada's Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes lost 2-0 (22-20, 21-18) to Americans April Ross and Alix Klineman in the final of the Katara Beach Volleyball Cup on Friday in Doha, Qatar.

Pavan and Humana-Paredes, the top-ranked team in the world, captured their 11th career World Tour medal.

Ross and Klineman are ranked second.

Third-seeded Brazilians Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda Santos Lisboa won bronze.

WATCH | Americans best top-seeded Canadians in Katara Beach Volleyball Cup final:

U.S. duo defeat Canada's Pavan and Humana-Paredes in Katara Beach Volleyball Cup final

4 years ago

Duration 2:26

Alix Klineman and April Ross of the United States defeated Canada's Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes two sets to zero in the gold medal match of the FIVB Katara Beach Volleyball cup final in Doha, Qatar on Friday.

Pavan, from Kitchener, Ont., and Toronto's Humana-Paredes were competing in a World Tour event for the first time since September 2019.

They captured the world championship earlier that year.

Pavan and Humana-Paredes bested third-seed Brazilian duo Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda), 2-0 (24-22, 26-24) in the semifinals and Russia's Nadezda Makroguzova and Svetlana Kholomina 2-1 (22-20, 24-26, 15-9) victory in the quarter-finals on Thursday prior to facing Klineman and Ross.

Olympic qualification made clearer

On Wednesday, beach volleyball players were given a clearer picture of how their 2021 calendar will unfold. 

Olympic ranking points will also be up for grabs at events in Sochi, Russia (May 26-30); Ostrava, Czech Republic (June 2-6) and at the currently ongoing Katara Cup in Doha. 

The final Olympic beach volleyball qualification rankings will be published on June 14th and only the 15 highest ranked teams per gender will qualify, with a quota of two places per nation.