Canadian Copacabana Challenge?

Moscow, Russia, May 26, 2016 – Is it really a rivalry between the two teams to see which tandem will represent Canada in the men’s Beach Volleyball competition at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games or will the North American country have two entries into the Copacabana quadrennial?

With two Canadian women’s teams destined to compete in Rio this August at the 2016 Summer Games, the men’s pairs of Ben Saxton/Chaim Schalk and Josh Binstock/Sam Schachter are hoping for the same as the country has never had four teams competing in the same Olympic Games.

The two Canadian men’s teams posted 2-1 pool play marks this week at the US$800,000 Moscow Grand Slam while the women’s pairs of Heather Bansley/Sarah Pavan (3-0 record) and Jamie Broder/Kristina Valjas (1-2) also combined for four wins in six group matches to advance to Friday’s elimination rounds.

At the moment, Saxton and Schalk are ranked No. 12 (4,700 points) on the Rio provisional qualifying list for their best 12 finishes on the FIVB World Tour since the start of the process in April 2015.  With the top 15 teams from the international circuit, excluding Brazilians and a maximum of two pairs per country, Binstock and Schachter are No. 17 (4,250).

Both Canadian men’s teams started this week’s event strong with two-straight pool wins each, but lost to higher-seeded pairs in their final group matches.  Despite losing 2-1 (21-16, …

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