Volleyball: Doha Elite16 – The main draw women treams

 Ana Patricia Silva Ramos/Eduarda ‘Duda’ Santos Lisboa – Brazil

Ana Patricia

The Brazilians are the top-ranked team and the FIVB World Rankings leaders after their highly successful first season as partners. Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa, 24, and Ana Patricia Ramos, 25, won the biggest tournament of 2022, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships, and also triumphed at Beach Pro Tour Elite16 tournaments in Gstaad and Uberlandia. They’ve stepped on the podium at each of their last six international events and also earned bronze medals in Jurmala, Paris and Cape Town.

Career highlights:

Reigning world champions (Rome 2022)

Bronze medallists in Jurmala (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16), Gold medallists at Gstaad (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16), Bronze medallists in Paris (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16), Bronze medallists in Cape Town (Beach Pro Tour – Elite16), Gold medallists in Uberlandia (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16)

Duda: 1x Olympian (Tokyo 2020), Youth Olympics gold medallist with Ana Patricia (2014), World Tour medallist

Ana Patricia: 1x Olympian (Tokyo 2020), Youth Olympics gold medallist with Duda (2014), World Tour medallist

Sara Hughes/Kelly Cheng – USA

Sara Hughes

Americans Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes, who are both 27, got back together towards the end of the 2022 season and made a great impression by winning both the Elite16 and the Challenge events held in Torquay, without dropping a single set. That helped the two players, who started their international careers together in 2015, earn one of the wild cards for the Finals in Doha. They both also had success earlier in the season with their previous partners; Cheng won gold at the Hamburg Elite16 with Betsi Flint while Hughes topped the podium at the Itapema Challenge with Kelley Kolinske.

Career highlights:

Gold medallists in Torquay (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Challenge), Gold medallist in Torquay (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16)

Hughes: Gold medallist in Itapema (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Challenge), World Tour medallist

Cheng: 1x Olympian (2020), Gold medallist in Hamburg (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16), World Tour medallist

Svenja Müller/Cinja Tillmann – Germany

Tillmann

The Germans’ first full season as partners generated great results. The 31-year-old Cinja Tillmann and the 21-year-old Svenja Müller did well enough to rank seventh in the world. Much of that was due to their bronze-medal campaign at the World Championships, but also to their success on the Beach Pro Tour, where they won the Elite16 tournament held in Ostrava. They also finished in the top ten at all seven international events they played at last year.

Career highlights:

Gold medallists at Ostrava (Beach Pro Tour – Elite16), Bronze medallists at World Championships (Rome 2022)

World Tour medallists

Carolina Salgado / Barbara Seixas – Brazil

barbara

The second Brazilian team in the Doha Elite16 Women’s Main Draw are partners since 2021. 35-year-old veterans Carol Salgado and Barbara Seixas won the first-ever event on the inaugural Beach Pro Tour, the Tlaxcala Challenge. They went on to triumph at another Challenge tournament, in Doha, and also secured two silvers (Jurmala and Paris) and a bronze (Uberlandia) at the Elite16 level. Ranked second in the world, they progressed to the semifinals of their last four Beach Pro Tour events.

Career highlights :

Gold medallists in Tlaxcala (Beach Pro Tour 2022 - Challenge), Gold medallists in Doha (Beach Pro Tour 2022 - Challenge), Silver medallists in Jurmala (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16), Silver medallists at Gstaad (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16), Bronze medallists in Uberlandia (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16)

Barbara: Olympic silver medallist (2016), 1x Olympian, World champion (2015), World Championship bronze medallist (2013), World Tour medallist

Carol: World Tour medallist

Taliqua Clancy / Mariafe Artacho del Solar – Australia

clancy

Australian Olympic silver medallists Taliqua Clancy, 30, and Mariafe Artacho del Solar, 29, are the only team from the Asian Confederation in the Main Draw of the Doha Elite16. They currently rank fourth in the FIVB World Rankings and have shared the same side of the court in international events since 2018. The highlight of their 2022 Beach Pro Tour season was their victory at the Espinho Challenge, but they also made it to the podium at the Elite16 level, taking bronze in Gstaad and Torquay. The Australians also took silver at the Kuşadası Challenge, and made it to the podium at their last three events.

Career highlights:

Olympic silver medallists (Tokyo 2020)

2x Olympians (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020)

World Championship bronze medallists (2019)

Silver medallists in Kusadasi (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Challenge), Bronze medallists at Gstaad (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16), Gold medallists in Espinho (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Challenge), Bronze medallists in Torquay (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16), World Tour medallists

Sarah Pavan / Sophie Bukovec – Canada

Pavan

A pair which is the outcome of recent changes among the top Canadian teams, 36-year-old Sarah Pavan and 27-year-old Sophie Bukovec will make their second appearance together at the Doha Elite16 after they were awarded a wild card for the Finals in January. A two-time Olympian and a world champion, Pavan won gold at the Jurmala Elite16 event in 2022 with former partner Melissa Humana-Paredes, with whom she also topped the podium at the Commonwealth Games. Bukovec had a brief but successful union with Brandie Wilkerson, with whom she claimed silver at last year's World Championships in Rome.

Career highlights:

Pavan: World champion (2019), 2x Olympian (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020), World Tour Finals silver medallist (2021), Gold medallist in Jurmala (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16), World Tour seasonal champion (2019), World Tour medallist

Bukovec: World Championship silver medallist (2022), U21 world champion (2014), World Tour medallist

Melissa Humana-Paredes / Brandie Wilkerson – Canada

Melissa

The two 30-year-old Canadian Tokyo 2020 Olympians teamed up late into the 2022 season and appeared together at an AVP Tour event in September, taking silver. The Doha Elite16 will mark the new pair’s international debut. With her previous partner Sarah Pavan, Melissa triumphed at the 2019 World Championships in Hamburg, became 2019 World Tour seasonal champions and reached number one in the World Ranking. In 2022, they claimed gold at the Jurmala Elite16 on the Beach Pro Tour and at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. For most of 2022, Brandie partnered with Sophie Bukovec and they claimed silver at the World Championships in Rome.

Career highlights:

Melissa: World champion (2019), 1x Olympian (Tokyo 2020), Gold medallist in Jurmala (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16) , World Tour seasonal champion (2019), World Tour Finals silver medallist (2021), World Tour medallist

Brandie: World Championship silver medallist (2022), 1x Olympian (Tokyo 2020), World Tour medallist

Anastasija Samoilova / Tina Graudina – Latvia

Tina Graudina

Latvian standouts Anastasija Samoilova (formerly Kravcenoka), 25, and Tina Graudina, 24, are another team from the top five heading to the Doha Elite16. The Tokyo Olympic semifinalists are yet to win their first Beach Pro Tour title, but had a solid season in 2022, taking silver at Elite16 events in Rosarito and Paris while also making it to the semifinals in Gstaad. Partners since 2016, the Latvians also had great success at the continental level, securing their second European title in the summer.

Career highlights:

1x Olympians (Tokyo 2020)

2x European Championship gold medallists (2019, 2022)

Silver medallists at Rosarito (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16), Silver medallists in Paris (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16),

World Tour participants

Katja Stam/Raïsa Schoon – Latvia

Teams to watch in Doha: Stam & Schoon

Young Dutch players Raisa Schoon, 21, and Katja Stam, 24, had two of the most remarkable victories in the Beach Pro Tour's first season. They were the first women to triumph at the Elite16 level, winning gold in Rosarito, after starting the tournament in the qualifier, and also topped the podium in Paris, at the iconic Roland Garros stadium. Ranked third in the world, Schoon and Stam, who first became partners in 2021, also won a pair of medals at Challenge events, claiming silver in Tlaxcala and Itapema.

Career highlights:

Stam & Schoon: 1x Olympians (Tokyo 2020)

European Championship silver medallists (2021)

Silver medallists in Tlaxcala (Beach Pro Tour 2022 - Challenge), Gold medallists in Rosarito (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16), Silver medallists in Itapema (Beach Pro Tour 2022 - Challenge), Gold medallists in Paris (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16)

World Tour medallists

Nina Brunner / Tanja Hüberli – Switzerland

Brunner

Swiss Olympians Nina Brunner, 27, and Tanja Hüberli, 30, are another European team to look out for and rank sixth in the world. The two have been on the same side of the court since 2016 and had another solid season in 2022, when they made it to the podium at two Elite16 events, taking silver in Hamburg and bronze in Ostrava. They also medalled at a Challenge tournament, claiming bronze in Doha. Brunner and Hüberli qualified for the final of the European Championships for a second-straight year, but had to settle for silver after losing to their Latvian rivals.

Career highlights:

European champions (2021)

European Championship silver medallists (2018)

1x Olympians (Tokyo 2020)

Bronze medallists in Doha (Beach Pro Tour 2022 - Challenge), Bronze medallists in Ostrava (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16), Silver medallist in Hamburg (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16)

World Tour medallists

Huberli: 2x European Championship silver medallist (2014 & 2018)

Terese Cannon / Sarah Sponcil – USA

sponcil

27-year-old Terese Cannon and 26-year-old Tokyo Olympian Sarah Sponcil reunited for the start of the 2022 season, after playing together for a short period on the 2018 AVP Tour. They won their first Beach Pro Tour medal together in May, bronze at the Kusadasi Challenge. The Cape Town Elite16 silver medal was their best achievement as a team so far.

Career highlights:

Bronze medallists in Kusadasi (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Challenge), Silver medallists in Cape Town (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Elite16)

Cannon: World Tour medallist

Sponcil: 1x Olympian (Tokyo 2020), World Tour medallist

Barbora Hermannova / Marie-Sara Stochlova

Hermannova

After qualifying for two consecutive Olympic Games with Marketa Slukova, 32-year-old Hermannova joined forces with 23-year-old Stochlova in August 2021. Together, they claimed two medals on the 2022 Beach Pro Tour: an Agadir Challenge silver and a Dubai 1 Challenge gold.

Career highlights:

Silver medallists in Agadir (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Challenge), Gold medallists at Dubai1 (Beach Pro Tour 2022 – Challenge)

World Tour participants

Hermannova: 2x Olympian (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020), World Tour medallist

Stochlova: World Tour medallist