Pavan, Humana-Paredes in fine form at beach volleyball world championships
Canadian duo improves to 2-0 in preliminary round
Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes improved to 2-0 in the preliminary round of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Vienna, Austria, with a win over Italy on Sunday.
In their Pool G match, the Canadian duo defeated Marta Menegatti and Rebecca Perry 2-0 (21-16, 21-13).
Pavan and Humana-Paredes, who are playing their first full season together, defeated Marleen Ramond-Van Iersel and Manon Nummerdor-Flier of the Netherlands in the opener on Friday.
The Canadian pair leads Pool G with four points and will face Fan Wang and Yuan Yue of China on Monday. The Chinese duo is 1-1 with three points.
.<a href="https://twitter.com/melissa_hp10">@melissa_hp10</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/SarahPavan">@SarahPavan</a> are on 🔥! Second wim for them in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIVBWorldChamps?src=hash">#FIVBWorldChamps</a>! <a href="https://twitter.com/VBallCanada">@VBallCanada</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamCanada">@TeamCanada</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canada?src=hash">#Canada</a> <a href="https://t.co/BOCOJ2Ji4p">pic.twitter.com/BOCOJ2Ji4p</a>
—@FIVBBeachPavan and Humana-Paredes entered the tournament on a hot streak, having already won four medals on the World Tour, highlighted by a gold in Porec, Croatia, on Canada Day.
Meanwhile, Canadians Julie Gordan and Camille Saxton, winners of back-to-back World Tour events in March, lost to Agatha Bednarczuk and Eduarda Santos Lisboa of Brazil 2-1 (27-15, 15-21, 15-7) and trail Brazil by one point in Pool C.
On the men's side, the Canadian entry of Sam Pedlow and Sam Schachter defeated Martin Ermacora and Moritz Pristauz of Austria 2-1 (21-11, 18-21, 15-11). Pedlow and Schacter are tied with Spain with four points at the top of Group I.
Later Sunday, Chaim Schalk and Ben Saxton, older brother of Camille, earned a 2-1 victory over Rahman Raoufi and Bahman Salemiijehboroun of Iran 2-1 (20-22, 21-16, 15-13). The Canadian pair improved to 2-0 in Pool L.
Furthermore, Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson beat Norisbeth Gonzalez and Gabriela Brito of Venezuela 2-0 (21-11, 21-11) and improved to 2-0 in Pool J.
In the last match of the day for Canada, Clemens Doppler and Alexander Horst of Austria defeated Aaron Nusbaum and Ryan Vandenburg 2-0 (21-12, 21-15). The Canadian pair, playing in the same pool as Schalk and Saxton, fell to 0-2.
With 48 teams on each of the men's and women's side, the world championships occur every two years and is the biggest beach volleyball meet since last year's Rio Olympics. The teams are split into groups of four, with the top two from each group automatically advancing to the first knockout round.