In the women’s elimination bracket, 16 matches will be played to set the field for Thursday’s contests in the $1-million event. The women’s competition continues through Saturday when the medal matches will be played.
The men’s schedule Wednesday starts with the final eight pool play matches in four groups (A, C, E and H) and ends with the four lucky loser contests to finalize the 32-team elimination bracket which is to begin on Thursday. The men’s competition concludes Sunday with the final four matches.
Reigning Olympic champions Alison Cerutti/Bruno Oscar Schmidt of Brazil and Laura Ludwig/Kira Walkenhorst of Germany will be playing Wednesday. The fifth-seeded Alison and Bruno conclude Pool E play against the 20th-seeded Grimalt cousins (Esteban and Marco) from Chile.
The fourth-seeded Ludwig and Walkenhorst, who have been hampered this season with various injuries, play 18th-seeded Fan Wang/Yuan Yue of China with the winner of that match playing either 16th-seeded Kelly Claes/Sara Hughes United States or 23rd-seeded Elsa Baquerizo/Amaranta Navarro of Spain Thursday.
The 11th annual FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships presented by A1 is being played on three courts at the state-of-the art venue at Donauinsel with the focal point of the action and entertainment being held with a picturesque view of the Danube River and the lively atmosphere of the Beach Village.
A total of 216-matches will be contested over a 10-day period at the world championships where the winning men’s and women’s teams will each split the $60,000 first-place prizes. When play started July 28, 40 countries were represented in the competition.