The wait is finally over! Olympic volleyball kicks off on Friday, July 23 with exciting Canadian action both on the hardcourt and the beach.
In indoor volleyball the Canadian Men’s team is making their second straight Olympic appearance after finishing 5th at the 2016 Rio Olympics. The experienced squad will be led by veterans such as Gord Perrin, Graham Vigrass and TJ Sanders. However, there have been exciting, new editions to the roster since Rio – in particular 22 year old phenom Sharone Vernon-Evans.
Canada will compete in Pool A along with Italy, Japan, Iran, Venezuela and Poland. Their opening game will be a true test as the number 10 ranked Canadians face off agains Italy (ranked 9th in the world). After the five-match pool play, the top four teams advance to the knockout quarterfinals. The top seed from each pool crosses over to play the fourth seed, while a drawing is held to determine crossover opponents for seeds two and three.
Over on the sand, Canada is well represented by two medal contender women’s teams. The duo of Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes qualified for Tokyo after winning the 2019 Beach Volleyball World Championships in Hamburg, Germany. The team is entering the Games as the number one seed in the FIVB Olympic rankings. The team of Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson qualified for the Games as the ninth ranked team in FIVB Olympic ranking. Bansley was Pavan’s partner at the 2016 Olympic Games where they finished 5th. The new pairs have been training together since 2017 and both duos have found tremendous success in their new partnerships.
CBC Sports is the official Olympic and Paralympic broadcaster and the hub for volleyball action.