Chile and Venezuela won gold at the CSV Continental Cup Final. The Continental Cup features nations with two teams each facing off against each other. Each nation designates a team 1 and a team 2. In total 6 nations faced off against each other through a five match series in a round robin format. The winner of the South American Continental Cup qualifies to the Olympics. The men’s final of the Beach Volleyball South American Continental Cup was held in Santiago, Chile while the women’s final was held in Rosario, Argentina from June 22nd to June 26th 2016.
The women’s tournament saw Argentina, Paraguay and Venezuela win their first two matches against a combination of Chile, Colombia and Uruguay. In a battle between undefeated teams Venezuela defeated Paraguay 3-1 in the third set of matches while Uruguay won its first match over Chile. Argentina suffered a setback as one of their team members suffered an injury and had to withdraw, helping Colombia to secure their first victory. Argentina was unable to recover from the injury and was essentially forced to forfeit to Venezuela on the fourth day of matches. Venezuela’s win along with Uruguay’s and Colombia’s victories over Paraguay and Chile respectively meant Venezuela qualified to the Olympics. Fifth day saw Colombia, Venezuela and Paraguay score victories over Uruguay, Chile and Argentina respectively.
The men’s tournament began similarly as the women’s with Argentina, Chile and Venezuela winning their first two matches against a combination of Colombia, French Guiana and Uruguay. As a reminder French Guiana cannot qualify to the Olympics as they do not have their own NOC. On the third set of matches Venezuela gave Argentina its first loss by winning 3-1. Chile also remained undefeated with a 3-1 victory over Colombia. Both Chile and Venezuela remained undefeated after the fourth set of matches with wins over Argentina and French Guiana respectively. On the fifth and final day Chile was able to qualify to the Olympics after a hard fought 3-2 victory over Venezuela.
There will be one more chance for teams to qualify to the Olympics, at the Final Olympic Continental Cup. The top two teams which failed to qualify; Venezuela and Uruguay for the men and Paraguay and Colombia for the women will battle it out for the final spots.
Quotas by Nations
- Chile – 1
- Venezuela – 1
References
- FIVB. CSV Men’s Beach Continental Cup Final. Access on June 26 2016.
- FIVB. CSV Women’s Beach Continental Cup Final. Access on June 26 2016.
Road to the Olympics 