Who’s playing who at the Rothenbaum…

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Kira and Laura face tough opposition in Pool B as they look to retain their title

The wait is over…the eight pools for the Swatch Beach Volleyball FIVB World Tour Finals presented by Vodafone are here!

As the best of the best go head-to-head at the Rothenbaum for a share of the USD 800,000 prize, each of the pools are packed with quality meaning that drama and goosebumps are guaranteed.

Reigning World Tour Finals champions and home heroes Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst have been drawn in Pool B alongside Brazilians Larissa/Talita – a team they have beaten in the semifinals at both the Olympic Games and the World Championships in the last 12 months – and the United States’ Summer Ross and Brooke Sweat.

The women’s competition consists of 12 teams, with six nations represented by two teams. And in Pool C both Canadians teams, Melissa Humana-Paredes and Sarah Pavan and Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson, face each other.

Full women’s draw:

Pool A: Laboureur/Sude (Germany), Kolocova/Kvapilova (Czech Republic), Heidrich/Vergé-Dépré (Switzerland)

Pool B: Larissa/Talita (Brazil), Summer/Sweat (USA), Ludwig/Walkenhorst (Germany)

Pool C: Humana-Paredes/Pavan (Canada), Hermannova/Slukova (Czech Republic), Bansley/Wilkerson (Canada)

Pool D: Agatha/Duda (Brazil), Fendrick/Ross (USA), Hüberli/Betschart (Switzerland)

Top men's seeds Lucena/Dalhausser won the Hamburg Major last year

With two-time World Tour Finals champs Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt failing to qualify, the men’s title is well and truly up for grabs.

Top seeds are the United States’ Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena who claimed gold at last year’s Hamburg Major. They were silver medalists in the 2015 Finals and their quest for gold begins in Pool A with matches against World Champs runners-up Clemens Doppler and Alex Horst of Austria and experienced Spanish duo Adrian Gavira and Pablo Herrera.

Evandro Goncalves and Andre Loyola, victorious in Vienna at the World Championships two weeks ago, aim to complete a quickfire double and start their Hamburg adventure in Pool B alongside Russia’s Viacheslav Krasilnikov/Nikita Liamin and American wildcards Theo Brunner and Casey Patterson.

Full men’s draw:

Pool A: Lucena/Dalhausser (USA), Doppler/Horst (Austria), Herrera/Gavira (Spain)

Pool B: Evandro/Andre (Brazil), Krasilnikov/Liamin (Russia), Brunner/Patterson (USA)

Pool C: Alvaro/Saymon (Brazil), Kantor/Losiak (Poland), Dollinger/Erdmann (Germany)

Pool D: Böckermann/Schümann (Germany), Lupo/Nicolai (Italy), Saxton/Schalk (Canada)

All matches will be live on BeachStream, with the action kicking off on Wednesday at 10am. Click here to subscribe to BeachStream – it’s absolutely free!