Canada takes silver in Doha

DOHA, Qatar, March 9, 2024.- Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes and Brandie Wilkerson take home a silver medal from the first Elite 16 of the year at the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour stop in Doha,  and Sara Hughes alongside Kelly Cheng of the United States take the bronze.

Melissa & Brandie knocked out two powerful Brazilian pairs on the way to the final but stopped short of beating a third one Bárbara Seixas and Carol Salgado in the gold medal showdown. Seventh-seeded Barbara & Carol showed a solid performance against the fourth-seeded Canadians and mastered a 2-0 (21-18, 21-18) shutout to lift the trophy in the Qatari capital.

"It was a hard-fought week of great competition. It feels great to be back on tour playing against the best," said Humana-Paredes. "We had a tough pre-season preparing for this, so we’re happy to see the things we worked on in action. A big team effort! Would have loved a better showing in the finals but the positive is we have a lot of good to take back home and work on."

The field in Doha, Qatar, was packed with top-ranking teams. Canada is currently ranked fourth in the world.

Canada defeated number-one ranked Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) & Ana Patricia Ramos of Brazil in the quarterfinals and then in the semis, Melissa/Brandie beat Anastasija Samoilova and Tina Graudina of Latvia 2-1 to advance.  

Hughes/Cheng of USA, reigning world champions who are already qualified for Paris 2024, won the bronze-medal match over Latvia’s Anastasija Samoilova & Tina Graudina on the way to a 2-0 (21-15, 21-18) sweep. For the reigning world champions, the Doha bronze was the pair’s first ever on the Beach Pro Tour. They also have five golds and a silver on their record.

Beach volleyball rankings: https://en.volleyballworld.com/beachvolleyball/world-ranking/women

VW Beach Pro Tour Doha Elite16: all results