The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour returns to Haikou this week for a Challenge event, marking the second time the Chinese city has hosted the tour since its debut in November 2022. The tournament kicks off on Wednesday, November 13, featuring two rounds of men’s and the first round of women’s qualification matches across four competition courts. The second round of women’s qualifiers will take place on Thursday morning, leading into the main draw, which runs through Sunday, November 17, culminating in the semifinals and medal matches for both genders.
This year’s main draw will feature two Olympic medallists competing with new partners. Taliqua Clancy, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic silver medallist and three-time Olympian from Australia, will team up with 26-year-old Georgia Johnson, who has made a name for herself at the Futures level. The duo is pre-seeded third in the women’s main draw.
Xue Chen, a bronze medallist from the Beijing 2008 Olympics and a four-time Olympian, will also compete in Haikou with a new partner, 23-year-old Zeng Jinjin. This newly formed Chinese pair is pre-seeded fifth. Xue’s former partner, Xia Xinyi, will also be competing with a different partner, 27-year-old Wang Jingzhe, who recently won gold at the Qingdao Futures. Wang and Xia lead the Haikou women’s line-up based on entry points. The two pairs faced off last week in the final of the Asian Beach Volleyball Championship in the Philippines, where Wang and Xia triumphed in straight sets.
The women’s main draw will also include notable teams such as Finland’s Taru Lahti-Liukkonen and Niina Ahtiainen, pre-seeded second, as well as French Olympians Clémence Vieira and Aline Chamereau, and Austria’s Lena Plesiutschnig and Katharina Schutzenhofer.
In the men’s draw, several Paris 2024 Olympians are set to compete, including Australia’s Thomas Hodges and Zachery Schubert, who won bronze in Haikou last year. French athlete Remi Bassereau will partner with Calvin Aye, while American Theodore Brunner, a silver medallist from last year, returns with Timothy Brewster. Chaim Schalk, who reached the semifinals in Haikou last year, will compete alongside James Shaw. Newly crowned Asian champions D’Artagnan Potts and Jack Pearse from Australia will also participate in this week’s Challenge event.
The men’s qualification list features prominent names such as Italian Olympian Enrico Rossi and Austrian Olympian Alexander Huber, who will compete with Manuel Alfieri and Felix Friedl, respectively.
Additionally, Norway’s rising stars, 22-year-old Markus Mol and 20-year-old Adrian Mol, will appear together on the Beach Pro Tour for the second time after finishing fourth at the Balikesir Futures in September.
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