Volleyball Canada  – April 30, 2016: Both Canadian teams entered in the FIVB Fortaleza Open in Brazil finished ranked in the top ten on Friday. 

Tournament eighth-seed Grant O’Gorman (Scarborough, ON) and Sam Pedlow (Barrie, ON), and fourth-seeded Josh Binstock and Sam Schachter (both of Richmond Hill, ON) both finished ranked ninth after falling to different Brazilian teams in the second round of playoffs.

“Playing in Brazil is always special,” Pedlow said. “Fortaleza presented some extreme conditions; heat, high winds and heavy rainfall forcing us to adjust with each new match. We are happy to come away with a ninth and always looking to improve as the Olympic qualification continues.”

Full results and updates on the tournament, which runs until Sunday, can be found here: http://goo.gl/89wr1a

With placement points for the FIVB Rankings for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games continuing until mid-June, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour resumed with events over eight straight weeks through the end of May. In all, Brazil is hosting five international events in 2016: In addition to Maceió, Rio and Vitoria, this week’s FIVB Fortaleza Open (April 26-May 1) and the Brazil events conclude with the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (Aug. 6-18). 

The FIVB World Tour now heads to Europe. Up first will be Russia for the FIVB Sochi Open (May 3-8) followed by the FIVB Antalya Open in Turkey (May 11-15). The tour then visits the United States for the FIVB Cincinnati Open (May 17-22) and then returns to Russia for the FIVB Moscow Grand Slam (May 24-29). 
 

For more on the FIVB World Tour, see www.fivb.org

The provisional Olympic rankings can be found here: 

• Men: http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/OGRanking_M.asp
• Women: http://www.fivb.org/EN/BeachVolleyball/OGRanking_W.asp

 
Volleyball Canada media contact:
Jackie Skender
E-mail: jskender@volleyball.ca
Phone: 613.794.7676